The New Guinea orogen comprises terranes that have accreted to
the northern margin of the Australian craton. The history of the
accretion of terranes begins earlier (in the Late Cretaceous) and
is more complex than has been suggested previously. There was
a collision in the central highlands in the Late Paleocene or Early
Eocene, and a Finisterre collision that precedes and is distinct
from the later (Pliocene) Bismarck volcanic arc collision.