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| Fuiloro Grassland in PNNKS |
The Fuiloro
Grassland occurs on a highland plain at altitudes between 300 and 500 metres
above sea level, from the foot of the Chay-Keri Plateau in the north to the
Ira-lalaru Lake in the south. It covers an area of 287.75 Km² and can be viewed
on Google Earth between coordinates 08° 26’ 20”S and 08° 35’ 10” S, and 126°
57’ 41” E and 127° 06’ 38” E.
Geologically, the
Fuiloro Grassland is underlain in places by the Poros Limestone composed mostly
of gastropods and algae skeletal fragments that accumulated during the
Pleistocene in a lacustrine depositional environment. In other areas coralline
limestone of the Pleistocene Baucau Limestone as well as unconsolidated
sediment of the Pleistocene Suai Formation, with grain size varying from gravel
to clay, form the substrate. Soil types developed on the plain are calcareous,
ferruginous, and clayey, and brown to black in color.
In terms of
geomorphology, The Fuiloro Plain, which is covered by the grassland, represents
the floodplain of Ira-Lalaru Lake. The mud soil is clayey when it rains but
cracks as it begins to dry during the dry season. The grassland consists of
perennial grasses, including Baumea rubiginosa from the Cyperacea family.
The area is also
noted for the spread of many low natural mounds with a diameter of 2–5 m² that
are formed by the activity of termites during each rainy season. The termites
tunnel into the soil to form a nest bringing sediment to the surface to form
the mound that also has many tunnels occupied by the insects.
Mafaldo Jose Faria,
Delio Manuel, David Haig
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