View source for D'Entrecasteaux Islands

{{Short description|Island group near New Guinea}}
{{Infobox Islands
|name =D'Entrecasteaux Islands
|image_name =Karta PG D´Entrecasteaux isl.PNG
|image_caption = D'Entrecasteaux Islands.
|native_name =
|native_name_link =
|location =[[Oceania]]
| map = Papua New Guinea
| map_caption = 
|coordinates= {{coord|9|39|S|150|42|E|display=inline,title}}
|archipelago = 
|total_islands = 
|major_islands =
|area_km2 =  
|highest_mount =
|elevation_m =
|country ={{PNG}}
|country_admin_divisions_title =Province
|country_admin_divisions =[[Milne Bay Province]]
|country_largest_city =
|country_largest_city_population =
|population =
|population_as_of =
|ethnic_groups = 
}}
'''D'Entrecasteaux Islands''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|d|ɒ|n|t|r|ə|ˈ|k|æ|s|t|oʊ}} ({{IPA|fr|dɑ̃tʁəkasto|lang}}) are situated near the eastern tip of [[New Guinea]] in the [[Solomon Sea]] in [[Milne Bay Province]] of [[Papua New Guinea]]. The group spans a distance of {{convert|160|km|0|abbr=on}}, has a total land area of approximately {{convert|3100|km²|0|abbr=on}} and is separated from the Papua New Guinea mainland by the {{convert|30|km|0|adj=on|abbr=on}} wide [[Ward Hunt Strait]] in the north and the {{convert|18|km|0|adj=on|abbr=on}} wide [[Goschen Strait]] in the south. D'Entrecasteaux Islands show signs of [[volcanism]].

==Description==
[[File:DEntrecasteauxIslandsTopography.png|250px|thumb|Topographic map of D'Entrecasteaux Islands. Large islands from Northwest to Southeast: [[Goodenough Island|Goodenough]], [[Fergusson Island|Fergusson]] and [[Normanby Island (Papua New Guinea)|Normanby]].]]
The three principal islands, from northwest to southeast, are [[Goodenough Island|Goodenough]] (Nidula<ref>Young, Michael. (1984) ''Magicians of Manumanua: Living Myth in Kalauna'', Berkeley: University of California Press.</ref>), then across Moresby Strait to [[Fergusson Island|Fergusson]] (Moratau<ref name="UNEP">{{cite web|url=http://islands.unep.ch/IHD.htm|title=UNEP Islands Website|access-date=11 September 2017}}</ref>), the largest of the three, and across Dawson Strait to [[Normanby Island (Papua New Guinea)|Normanby Island]] (Duau<ref name="UNEP"/>).

In addition there are numerous small islands and reefs. [[Sanaroa Island|Sanaroa]] and [[Dobu Island|Dobu]] are the most significant of the smaller islands, while Sori or Wild is named for [[Challenger expedition|HMS ''Challenger'''s]] artist, [[John James Wild]].  The highest peak in the group is the {{convert|2536|m|ft|0}} [[Mount Vineuo]] on Goodenough Island.

The D'Entrecasteaux Islands are volcanically active, with a number of areas of historic/geologic volcanism and active [[Geothermal activity|geothermal]] fields. Fergusson Island has three volcanic masses over {{convert|1,828|m|ft|abbr=on|0}} high.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orchidspng.com/island_of_new_guinea.html|title=Papua New Guinea Orchid News – Papua New Guina Orchid News|website=Papua New Guinea Orchid News|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724013016/http://www.orchidspng.com/island_of_new_guinea.html|archive-date=24 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> There are geothermal areas in the south east area of Goodenough Island<ref name=si-goodenough>{{cite gvp|vn=253041|title=Goodenough}}</ref> and the Bwabwadana and Iamalele<ref name=si-iamalele>{{cite gvp|vn=253050|title=Iamalele}}</ref> on Fergusson Island. A particularly active hot springs is located at Deidei on Fergusson.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

Between Fergusson and Normanby Islands the Dawson Straits Group has several volcanic centres that may define a partly submerged [[caldera]]; one of the cones on southwestern Fergusson Island may have erupted in 1350.<ref name=si-dawson>{{cite gvp|vn=253060|title=Dawson Strait Group}}</ref>  

==Geology==
Geologically the islands are largely made up of rock that probably once belonged to the northern edge of the Australian [[plate tectonics|plate]] that was thrust deep into the Earth's crust by plate collision.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

The burial of these rocks to great depths (where they also encountered correspondingly high temperatures) metamorphosed the rocks to [[Eclogite|eclogite facies]]: >2GPa and >700˚C. Specifically, these islands play host to the youngest known coesite-eclogite sample; CA-[[Thermal ionization mass spectrometry|TIMS]] dating of zircons within this sample dates its formation to ~5Ma,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gordon |first1=S. M. |last2=Little |first2=T. A. |last3=Hacker |first3=B. R. |last4=Bowring |first4=S. A. |last5=Korchinski |first5=M. |last6=Baldwin |first6=S. L. |last7=Kylander-Clark |first7=A. R. C. |title=Multi-stage exhumation of young UHP–HP rocks: Timescales of melt crystallization in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, southeastern Papua New Guinea |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=2012 |volume=351–352 |pages=237–246 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2012.07.014|bibcode=2012E&PSL.351..237G }}</ref> meaning it has been exhumed from a depth of ~100&nbsp;km<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geology/article-abstract/36/9/735/29845/late-miocene-coesite-eclogite-exhumed-in-the|title=Late Miocene coesite-eclogite exhumed in the Woodlark Rift|first1=Suzanne L.|last1=Baldwin|first2=Laura E.|last2=Webb|first3=Brian D.|last3=Monteleone|date=1 September 2008|journal=Geology|volume=36|issue=9|pages=735–738|access-date=11 September 2017|via=geology.gsapubs.org|doi=10.1130/G25144A.1|bibcode=2008Geo....36..735B |url-access=subscription}}</ref> at the remarkable rate of ~20mm/yr.

The rock at the centre of the tall domes in these islands was thus recently very deep in the Earth. Over a very short time, geologically speaking, these packets of rocks have ascended through the Earth's shallow mantle and pushed through the crust to form the gneiss domes we find today – the vestiges of the crust these massifs have thrust through are still draped as carapaces over the edges of the domes.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

These islands are thought to be geophysically significant because they lie immediately ahead of the westernmost rift tip of the Woodlark spreading centre, which has been propagating westwards into the continent. The D'Entrecasteaux thus represent a stage of continental breakup just preceding fully-fledged volcanic spreading.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

==History==
The group was named for the French navigator [[Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux|Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux]], who, in his ship the ''[[French ship Espérance (1781)|Espérance]]'', passed through the area in 1792 while searching for his missing compatriot, [[Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse]].  Almost a century later, in 1874, Captain [[John Moresby]] of {{HMS|Basilisk|1848|6}} made a [[running survey]] of the west coast of the islands and became the first European to make landfall.<ref name=jenness>
[[Diamond Jenness|D. Jenness]] M.A. (Oxon) and Rev. A. Ballantyne. (1920) ''The Northern D'Entrecasteaux'', Oxford University Press.</ref>

In 1891, the Methodist Church of Australia established a mission station on [[Dobu Island]]. There, natives were recruited to work in gold mines and on copra plantations. Another mission was established in 1898 at Bwaidoga, Mud Bay, on the south coast of Goodenough Island.<ref name=jenness/>

The island group became a focus of activity in [[World War II]] when [[Imperial Japanese]] troops were marooned on Goodenough Island briefly in 1942, before being attacked by the [[Australia]]n [[2/12th Australian Infantry Battalion|2/12th Battalion]].  In 1943 [[Royal Australian Air Force|RAAF]] mobile works squadrons constructed an airfield with a {{convert|6000|ft|0|abbr=on}} airstrip and other facilities at [[Vivigani Airfield]] on the site of a smaller, pre-war airstrip that existed at that location.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

It was used by allied forces from June 1943 to August 1944 as a staging point for operations in New Guinea and nearby occupied islands. Vivigani airstrip has been open to commercial service since 1963. A US Navy PT-Boat base was established on Fergusson Island in June 1942.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

==People==
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2018}}
[[File:Mell109.jpg|thumb|The inhabitants of D'Entrecasteaux Islands]]
The inhabitants of D'Entrecasteaux Islands are indigenous [[subsistence economy|subsistence]] [[horticulture|horticulturalists]] living in small, traditional settlements. People of this area produced and traded clay pots as well as participated in the [[Kula ring|Kula]] exchange of shell valuables, travelling widely to other islands on sea-going sailing canoes. During the more recent past, people harvested [[copra]], [[trochus]] ([[sea snail]]s) and [[Nacre|pearl-shells]] and some timber for cash.  [[Alluvial]] gold mining was once important and in recent years the area has been subject to [[mining|mineral]] exploration.

==References==
{{Reflist|25em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|position=left|D'Entrecasteaux Islands}}

{{Islands of Papua New Guinea|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Entrecasteaux Islands}}
[[Category:D'Entrecasteaux Islands| ]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of Papua New Guinea]]
[[Category:Islands of Milne Bay Province]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Papua New Guinea]]