The Geology of Indonesia/Arafura Sea  From Wikibooks, open books
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navigation, search  The Arafura Sea is a continental shelf area
situated between Irian Jaya (western New Guinea) and the
northern part of the Australian continent. To the north, it is
bordered by the Tertiary collision zone between the Australian
craton and the northern Irian Jaya island arc, while to the
south, it adjoins the stable Australian craton. The westerly
extension of this area is vague, but can be taken approximately
to the eastern margin of the Tanimbar Trench in the south and
Aru Trough in the north. To the east, the Arafura Sea forms a
stable continental shelf which has suffered little from the
intense compressional events at the margins. Episodes of rifting
and basin formation are recorded in Paleozoic and Mesozoic
sequences, the effective boundary is provided by a Precambrian
structural high, the Wessel Rise (Figure 1). The bathymetry of
the Arafura Shelf exhibits depths of be