Editing Lae (section)

== Geology ==
{{Main|List of earthquakes in Papua New Guinea}}
[[File:Maoke Plate map-fr.png|thumb|right|[[Papua New Guinea]] and tectonic plates: [[Pacific plate]], [[Australian plate]], [[Caroline plate]], [[Banda Sea plate]] (as "Mer de Banda"), [[Woodlark plate]], [[Bird's Head plate]], [[Maoke plate]], [[Solomon Sea plate]], [[North Bismarck plate]], [[South Bismarck plate]] and [[Manus plate]] (in French).]]

Lae is located on the [[Pacific Ring of Fire]] and geologic instability has produced numerous [[fault (geology)|faults]], resulting in earthquakes.<ref>{{cite web|last=USGS |title=Seismic Hazard Map |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/png/seismicity.php |access-date=28 February 2014  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728225225/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/png/seismicity.php |archive-date=28 July 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Earthquake Track|title=Recent Earthquake Near New Guinea, Papua New Guinea|url=http://earthquaketrack.com/r/new-guinea-papua-new-guinea/recent|access-date=28 February 2014}}</ref>

Lae sits between the larger [[Indo-Australian plate]] and the [[Pacific plate]] on the [[South Bismarck plate]] in the Ramu-Markham Fault Zone where the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone and South Bismarck [[tectonic plates]] are converging at up to 50&nbsp;mm/yr. The city is caught in a giant geological vise and the seismic hazard is significant.<ref name="Association of Surveyors">{{cite web|last=43rd Association of Surveyors PNG Congress, Lae|title=Lae, a City caught between two plates – 15 years of Deformation Measurements with GPS|url=http://www.quickclose.com.au/LaeDeformation.pdf|work=Focus on Challenges; Society-Space-Surveyors|author2=Richard Stanaway |author3=Laura Wallace |author-link3=Laura Wallace (scientist) |author4=Zebedee Sombo |author5=Johnson Peter |author6=Trevor Palusi |author7=Ben Safomea |author8=John Nathan|date=12–15 August 2009}}</ref>

More than 15 years of measurements have been analysed with results indicating how rapidly Lae city and its survey network is deforming.<ref name="Association of Surveyors" />

The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone, which follows the northern edge of the Markham Valley, is the active plate boundary between the South Bismarck plate and [[Terranes|tectonostratigraphic terranes]] within the New Guinea Highlands Deforming Zone. The Ramu-Markham Fault Zone has generated large thrust earthquakes (e.g. 6 April 1999 MW 6.4, 16&nbsp;km North of Lae, near Hobu, and 22 November 2007 MW 6.8, 110&nbsp;km North of Lae). Geological evidence suggests that major earthquakes in pre-historic times have occurred in the Lae area,<ref name=Crook>{{cite journal|last=Crook|first=Keith A.W.|title=Quaternary uplift rates at a plate boundary, Lae urban area, Papua New Guinea|journal=Tectonophysics|date=June 1989|volume=163|issue=1–2|pages=105–118|doi=10.1016/0040-1951(89)90121-2|bibcode=1989Tectp.163..105C|url=http://www.quickclose.com.au/LaeDeformation.pdf}}</ref> and that there is the potential for another large earthquake to occur anytime within the next 100 years<ref name=Crook /><ref>{{cite journal|author1=Ripper, I.D. |author2=Anton, L.|title=Seismic hazard, Lae|journal=Papua New Guinea Geological Survey Report|year=1987|volume=95/2}}</ref> (in).<ref name="Association of Surveyors" />
=== Mount Lunaman ===

Mount Lunaman is {{convert|96|m}} high and has a radio tower at the highest point marked by red fixed obstruction lights to assist navigation.<ref>{{cite book|title=Prostar Sailing Directions 2004 New Guinea Enroute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnHGVP_BfgUC&pg=PR3|date=1 January 2004|publisher=ProStar Publications|isbn=978-1-57785-569-9|page=164}}</ref> At the base of Mount Lunaman at the southern and south-eastern face are the suburbs of Voco Point and Chinatown. The terraces are located to the West of Mount Lunaman.

Mount Lunaman is known to the locals as ''Lo' Wamung'', which means "first hill",<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Lonely Planet|title=Mt Lunaman|url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/papua-new-guinea/morobe-and-madang-provinces/lae/sights/natural-landmarks/mt-lunaman|access-date=9 February 2014}}</ref> ''Hospital Hill''<ref name="Laffin1956">{{cite book|author=John Laffin|title=Return to Glory|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zTwHAQAAIAAJ|year=1956|publisher=Angus and Robertson|page=77}}</ref> and Fortress Hill by the German settlers.<ref>{{cite book|title=Fodor's Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9b26AAAAIAAJ|year=1989|publisher=D. McKay|page=574|isbn = 978-0-679-01598-7}}</ref>

Mount Lunaman and the Lae urban area have been the subject of several tectonic studies relating to plate shift.<ref name="Crook Pages 105–118">{{cite journal|last=Crook|first=Keith A.W|title=Quaternary uplift rates at a plate boundary, Lae urban area, Papua New Guinea|journal=Tectonophysics|date=10 June 1989|volume=163|issue=1,2|pages=105–118|doi=10.1016/0040-1951(89)90121-2|bibcode=1989Tectp.163..105C}}</ref>

Mount Lunaman was an important landmark for both Japanese and the Allies:
:"The men of the South Australian battalion hammered and sawed vigorously at the top of the terrace. They were reconstructing, with captured Japanese tools, the skeleton of the cottage formerly used as the Japanese commander's sanctum. A hole beneath the door led by a tunnel to a labyrinth of passages and apertures which honeycombed Mount Lunaman".<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Semmler|editor-first=Clement|title=The war dispatches of Kenneth Slessor, official Australian correspondent, 1940–1944|year=1987|publisher=University of Queensland Press|location=St. Lucia, Qld., Australia|isbn=978-0-7022-2076-0|page=382|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AmoNAAAAIAAJ&q=Mount+Lunamen|edition=1. publ.}}</ref>

After the war it was believed that Mount Lunaman contained the remains of many Japanese soldiers who defended Lae using tunnels:
[[File:Japanese tunnel in Mt. Lunaman in Chinatown.jpg|thumb|Still extant Japanese World War II [[Tunnel warfare|tunnel]] in Mt Lunaman. Looking out towards Chinatown.]]
:A Japanese tomb believed to contain bodies of hundreds of Lae defenders was bought by two South Australian men for 1 pound. The tomb lies under Mount Lunaman which is said to house a hospital and when the Japanese in [[Tunnel warfare|tunnels]] refused to surrender to the Australian [[7th Division (Australia)|7th Division]] and [[9th Division (Australia)|9th Division]] troops in 1943 all entrances were sealed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35768821 |title=Odd Deal at Lae Sales|newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] |location=Adelaide|date=26 November 1946|page=7|via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In a 1971 NHK interview with the Japanese Army commander of Lae, he stated that the tunnels in the hill were only ever used for storage, and the Army had used the Lutheran Malahang Hospital some 10&nbsp;km north of the town.