CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

GEOLOGI INDONESIA

Sundaland
Tim Pengajar MK Geologi Indonesia

SE Asian basin types

SUNDALAND ENIGMA Madon (1997)

forearc backarc interior extensional continental margin

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by U nknow n A uthor is licensed under C C B Y -S A

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Strike-slip control Strike-slip control

Tapponnier et al. (1982) Shaw (1997) Wrench faulting at edge of Sunda
Leloup et al. (2001) Polachan (1991) ‘Plate’ Davies (1984)
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Penyu Basin

Petronas (1998)

Rifts
Burri (1989)
Settakul et al. (1990)
Petronas (1998) Rifts Compression related to northward subduction
Williams & Eubank (1995) Thailand Basins Hall & Morley (2004) Moulds (1989)
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Backarc basins
Extension influenced by Curray et al. (1979)
pre-existing basement Eubank & Makki (1981) Backarc and shear basins
faults Busby & Ingersoll (1995) Cole & Crittenden (1997) Retroarc foreland basins
Sapiie & Hadiana (2007) Barber et al. (2005) after Hutchison (1989) DeCelles & Giles (1996)
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

OFTEN MENTIONED as
STABLE CONTINENT,
Or IS IT?

Subduction hinge § Often referred to as Sunda Shield,

rollback Craton or Plate
Morley 2001 Hall & Morley, 2004 § All inappropriate terms
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Clouded by Internal Deformation

Major Cenozoic Basins
Sundaland

Surrounded By Active
Regions

(Pubellier et al., 2005)

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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Cenozoic Uplift or Inversion

in Sundaland

Orogeny or Inversion
Exhumation

Metcalfe, 1998

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Strike slip fault characteristics

NW-SE trending faults:

• original sinistral movement
(ductile) From Morley and Westaway 2006

• later dextral movement • Ranong Fault

(brittle) • Khlong Marui Fault

• change is progressively • Rift basins in Gulf of Thailand

• Assumed to be
younger to north conjugate to Mae Ping
23 Ma – Mae Ping Fault • Dominantly terrestrial fill, ages poorly
Fault and Three Pagodas
5 Ma – Red River Fault constrained
Fault
NE-SW trending faults:
• Few wells penetrate to basement
• Linked to Himalayan
• assumed to be originally
escape tectonics
dextral and more recently • Max rifting Late Oligocene, but onset
sinistral MPF – TPF possibly Eocene
• Shear sense reversal and
Ian Watkinson transition from ductile to
Chris Elders Sinistral > 36 – 30 Ma
brittle deformation Dextral ~ 23 Ma
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Summary of timing
What is beneath Sundaland?
22 ± 2 Ma
20 ± 1 Ma
Exhumation along the fault zone

Apatite fission track ages (Upton 1999) • Shear wave and P wave tomography suggests
25 ± 1 Ma Inversion
D4 Miocene
the region is unusual
? Eocene – Early Miocene Peak peninsula uplift • Shear wave models - long wavelength, large
33 ± 3 Ma Peak rifting
India–Asia collision
D3 Oligocene scale features - S20RTS
Rift onset
• Basin inversion Gulf of Thailand
Early Miocene = D4 ? Subduction
resumes
Earliest possible D3
India–Asia collision
23 ± 2 Ma Eocene Post-kin granites

22 ± 3 Ma
D2 Paleocene
44 ± 2 Ma
21 ± 2 Ma
Pre-kin granites
U.Cret
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S20RTS model (Ritsema & van Heijst, 2000)

plotted by Wim Spakman from Hall & Morley (2004)

low Vs high Vs
150 km (6%)

P wave model BSE

Bijwaard et al. 1998)
by Wim Spakman

100 km 200 km
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Hyndman et al, 2005 Hyndman et al, 2005

CRATON
AVERAGE

SE Asia Heatflow
From Hall & Morley (2004). Based on
Pollack et al. (1993) NGDC dataset, IPA/SEAPEX data [Kenyon & Beddoes, 1977;
Rutherford and Qureshi, 1981], and estimate for active volcanoes
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Basin Histories
• Numerous basins Comparison of subsidence rates between the
• Many of the ‘backarc’, ‘continental margin’ and North Sea and three super-deep basins of SE
Asia. The North Sea shows a rift to post-rift
‘extensional’ basins have features in common subsidence rate typical of average continental

• Generally extensional
crustal conditions. The SE Asia basins have
subsided an order of magnitude faster, possibly
• Few, if any, have strike-slip character indicating unusual continental crustal conditions.

• Many influenced by older basement fabrics

Hall & Morley, 2004

• Anomalous thicknesses of sequences in many basins

• Despite long term Cenozoic sea level fall, many basins
become marine very late
• What were the causes of extension?
• Timing is uncertain: synchronous or not?

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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

non- marine
marine
marine incursions

non- marine
marine
marine incursions

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Metcalfe (1998) Whittaker et al. (2007) Lee & Lawver (1995) Hall (2002) Murphy (2002) Hutchison (1996)

80 Ma 75 Ma
60 Ma 55

70 Ma 65 Ma

Worth noting that since Australia was not moving north there is no necessity for
subduction at the south Sundaland margin. The only way that subduction could
have been maintained is by postulating a spreading centre north of Australia
(that must also move north)
OCCAM’S RAZOR ?
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Igneous Activity
80 Ma to 45 Ma Cretaceous Granites
in SE Asia
Basic Cretaceous
Intermediate Early Cretaceous
Acid
Late Cretaceous

Cretaceous-Paleocene 56 dates
Fission track

Magmatism Dykes 1 zircon

K-Ar
3 hornblende
1 K feldspar
Little sign of arcs 6 plagioclase
3 pyroxene
Widespread granite magmatism 36 whole rock
8 not known

Little stratigraphic
evidence for
significant volcanic
Volcanic Rocks activity
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P wave model
(BSE: Bijwaard et al. 1998)
depth slice by Wim Spakman
Cenozoic Subduction Sundaland growth
• Cretaceous subduction at SW Java-Meratus • Incremental
suture terminated in Late Cretaceous • Growth occurred a result of collision of
• Passive margin to Sundaland in Late Cretaceous continental fragments rifted from Australian
and Early Cenozoic margin
• Different subduction history north of India and • In Late Mesozoic
Australia recorded in deep mantle • SW Borneo
• Subduction began again in Eocene at 45 Ma • East Java-Sulawesi
• Australia began to move northwards • In Cenozoic
• Caused widespread rifting in Sundaland forming • Sula Spur
the hydrocarbon-rich basins
1100 km depth slice
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Barber et al., 2005

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80 to 45 Ma Sundaland Blocks
reconstruction in
WEST
Late Cretaceous
BURMA RAUB- BENTONG

DANGEROUS
GROUNDS

Cenozoic
SI INDOCHINA-
BU
M EAST
AS MALAYA
U
LUCONIA

Passive margin to rifting

SI
WE
ULA
W WE
O ST
YL SU
SW
WS
A MA
TR
BORNEO
S

A
TU
RA
ME

VA
E JA
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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

55 45

Australia began moving north

Subduction began again around Sundaland Subduction did develop
north of Australia at 45
Ma — but as it did so the
Widespread rifting weak Sundaland
Sediment to Crocker, Barito and West Java lithosphere was subject to
~NNE-SSW compression
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Mid Eocene Eocene Oligocene

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CENOZOIC TECTONICS OF SE ASIA Problems and Models

Miocene
Summary
• Models of basin formation
• Key features of Sundaland
• Faults in Sundaland: an example
• Character of Sundaland lithosphere and consequences
• Deep mantle structure and its importance
• India-Asia collision
• History of subduction
• Cretaceous-Early Cenozoic history

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