DISCUSSION
These earthquakes occurred in a region considered to have the most
complex present-day tectonics on Earth. In the area surrounding Irian
Jaya (the western half of New Guinea), four major tectonic plates, the
Australian, Sunda, Philippine Sea, and Caroline plates, sandwich half
a dozen proposed microplates. The interactions between these
microplates produce all possible styles of faulting. These particular
earthquakes ruptured strike-slip faults near the boundary of the Bird's Head
plate and the recently proposed Maoke plate.
