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Geological Development of Eastern Indonesia and the Northern Australia

Collision Zone: a Review

Article · January 2004

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Geological development of eastern Indonesia and the northern Australia collision
zone: A review
Peter W. Baillie1, Tom H. Fraser2, Robert Hall3 and Keith Myers4

Keywords: Banda Arc, eastern Indonesia, Timor Trough, Tanimbar Trough, Aru Trough

Abstract • Relatively rigid lithosphere of the northern margin of

the Australian craton.
For much of its history, the region encompassing the • Deepwater troughs, including the Java Trench and its
northern margin of the Australian Plate and eastern bathymetric extensions the Timor, Tanimbar, Aru and
Indonesia has been part of, or relatively close to a Seram troughs.
continental margin. • The Banda Arc comprising an Outer Banda Arc
Three significant periods of Palaeozoic–Mesozoic (including the islands of Timor, Tanimbar and Seram)
terrane dispersion occurred, where continental and the volcanic arc of the Inner Banda Arc and the
fragments separated from the margin of Gondwanaland, Weber Deep.
drifted northward and were subsequently accreted to the • The island of New Guinea comprising (a) West Papua
Eurasian craton. Separation of these blocks in the Early Central Range fold belt, (b) the West Papua foreland
Devonian, late Early Permian and Late Triassic–Late lying south of the fold belt, (c) the Bird’s Head
Jurassic was accompanied by the opening of the Palaeo- microcontinent, and (d) Cenderawasih Bay and the
Tethys, Meso-Tethys and Ceno-Tethys ocean basins. “Bird’s Neck”.
By the end of the Jurassic, the northern margin of
the Australian continent was part of a passive margin In general terms, the geological evolution of the region
facing an open ocean containing several continental may be considered in terms of:
blocks or microcontinents.
The present geology results from two tectonic forces: • building blocks formed during Proterozoic and
(1) northward movement of the Australian Plate driven Palaeozoic times;
by the Southern Ocean spreading centre at 9 cm/year, • development of a Mesozoic passive margin; and
and (2) rotation of the Pacific Plate which sets up sinistral • Neogene collision of Australia and the Indonesian
shear on the northern margin of New Guinea. Sunda archipelago.
This paper summarises the geological evolution as:
building blocks formed during Proterozoic and The first two phases occurred when the region was part
Palaeozoic times; development of a Mesozoic mid-latitude of Gondwanaland.
passive margin on the eastern margin of Gondwanaland; While the geological literature on both the northern
and Neogene collision of Australia and the Indonesian margin of Australia (essentially the North West Shelf) and
archipelago. South East Asia (including East Indonesia) is voluminous,
it is essentially endemic and the overlap of political and
Introduction geological boundaries has tended to mask the common
geology between the two regions (Longley et al., 2002).
Eastern Indonesia lies within a complex tectonic zone formed In this paper, we review the geology of the collision zone
as a result of Neogene collision and interaction of the between the Australian craton and the Indonesian
Australian and Eurasian (Sundaland) plates, and the Caroline archipelago – one of the most geologically-complex areas
and Philippine Sea oceanic plates, and the Pacific Plate. The on Earth.
region has been likened to a giant jigsaw puzzle, consisting Much useful information is found in the Journal of
of a complex of small ocean basins separated by slivers or Asian Earth Sciences (formerly the Journal of Southeast
fragments of sometimes-thickened continental crust, which Asian Earth Sciences), the AAPG Bulletin, specialist
seem ultimately destined to form part of a single complex publications of The Geological Society together with
terrane (Milsom, 1991; Metcalfe, 1998). conference proceedings published by the Petroleum
The active tectonics of the region have long been Exploration of Australia (PESA), the Australian Petroleum
recognised and are clearly expressed in its morphology, Producing and Exploration Association (APPEA), the
volcanicity and seismicity (e.g. Hamilton, 1979; Veevers, Indonesia Petroleum Association (IPA) and the South
2000). The following morphotectonic features are East Asia Petroleum Exploration Association
recognised: (SEAPEX).
The seismic database available to us includes several
1
TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company, Level 5, 1100 Hay Street non-exclusive surveys acquired by TGS-NOPEC
West Perth, WA, 6005. Australia. Email: [email protected] Geophysical Company and/or WesternGeco, including East
2
Resource System Diagnostics, Jakarta, Indonesia
3
SE Asia Research Group, Royal Holloway University of London,
Indonesia regional surveys EIR98 and EIR99, together with
United Kingdom the GP-ARI and Matahari surveys acquired near the
4
WesternGeco, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Australian border (Fig. 1).
540 Geological development of eastern Indonesia and northern Australia collision zone

Figure 1. Locality map showing seismic database

used in this study. Letters A-D indicate position
of seismic lines shown on Figure 7.

Proterozoic and Palaeozoic building blocks Gondwanaland tectonic development

Proterozoic and Lower Palaeozoic rocks form the effective During Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times, three significant periods
basement of the study area and are presently found near the of terrane dispersion occurred, where continental fragments
margin of the Australian Craton (Arafura Platform) and the separated from the margin of Gondwanaland, drifted northward
Bird’s Head of West Papua. Although the early tectonic and were subsequently accreted to the Eurasian craton
history is poorly defined, the overall north–south structural (Hutchison, 1989). Separation of these blocks in the Early
grain of the basement rocks of the Arafura Platform is well Devonian, late Early Permian and Late Triassic–Late Jurassic
illustrated by satellite gravity data (Fig. 2) where several was accompanied by the opening of the Palaeo-Tethys and
kilometres of gently-deformed Lower Palaeozoic and Meso-Tethys ocean basins (Fig. 4; Metcalfe, 1998).
Proterozoic section is present. The first important tectonic event was the Early Devonian
By the early Palaeozoic, the region was part of the eastern rifting of South China, North China, Indochina, Tarim and
margin of Gondwanaland (Metcalfe, 1998). Qaidam from Gondwanaland and the subsequent formation
The Goulburn Graben (Fig. 3) developed within the of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean (Fig. 4b; Metcalfe, 1998).
Proterozoic basement during the early Palaeozoic (Bradshaw The second event was the Carboniferous to Permian
et al., 1990; McLennan et al., 1990). This northwest- rifting of Sibumasu and Qiangtiang as part of the Cimmerian
trending graben is asymmetric, with major faults continent, now preserved in parts of Central and Southeast
developed along its northern boundary and a Palaeozoic to Asia (Fig. 4c; Metcalfe, 1998). On the North West Shelf
lower Mesozoic fill. Similar intracratonic rifts include the this important rifting event gave rise to the Westralian Super-basin
Barakan Basin (Barber et al., 2003), Petrel Sub-basin (Bradshaw et al., 1988). It relates to the onset of the Sibamasu
(Bonaparte Basin) and the Fitzroy Trough (Canning Basin; block separation and resulted in a thick (10 km) continuous
McLennan et al., 1990). fill of mainly Permian and Mesozoic sediments, covering the
 Baillie et al. 541

Figure 2. Regional satellite gravity map (source –

http://topex.ucsd.edu/marine_grav/mar_grav.html)
0°S

5°S

10°S

126°E 130°E 135°E

entire Westralian Super-basin (Longley et al., 2002). Late personnel during the 1980s to a limited amount of
Carboniferous uplift, erosion and local folding in the Bonaparte subsurface data from seismic and well-bore penetrations.
Basin have been related to this event (Baillie et al., 1994). The Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic stratigraphy of
The Late Triassic Carnian to Norian succession of the southeast Indonesia is a continuation of the northern
North West Shelf was deposited following a regionally Australian rift-drift sequence, and was controlled by
extensive period of significant tectonism, erosion and uplift Gondwanaland breakup and the subsequent opening of the
along the edges of the craton (Fitzroy Movement), related Indian Ocean (Fig. 5, modified after Pairault, 2002, originally
either to breakup events along the Gondwanan margin or to sourced from Pigram and Panggabean 1981,1983 and Fraser
docking of continental blocks along the West Papua/PNG et al., 1993). Three major tectonic stages are recognised,
subduction margin (Longley et al., 2002). similar in broad character to the North West Shelf:
The third significant period of terrane dispersal from the
Gondwanaland margin occurred in the Late Triassic to Late • A Permian to Late Triassic pre-rift stage, represented
Jurassic, associated with the Late Triassic drift of the Lhasa by shallow marine and fluvio-deltaic deposition on a
block and the subsequent drift of the West Burma and Woyla stable platform.
blocks in the Late Jurassic (Metcalfe, 1998). Longley et al. • A Late Triassic to Early Jurassic break-up stage
(2002) recognized the separation of three West Burma sub- characterised by block faulting, uplift and thermal
blocks: Block I began to rift in the latest Hettangian and doming, and followed by erosion and accumulation of
extension continued until breakup in the Sinemurian; rifting continental red beds.
of Block II subsequently began in the Callovian and was • Post-rift from the Middle Jurassic when the region started
complete by the Oxfordian; and Block III separated from a to cool and subside, leading to the deposition of restricted
position outboard of the Bonaparte Basin in the Tithonian. marine sediments until rising sea level in the Cretaceous
It is possible that a fourth block occupied the position of the led to open marine conditions. A thick carbonate succession
present Banda Sea. was deposited during the Tertiary (New Guinea Limestone).
Late Jurassic continental breakup along the Argo Abyssal
Plain, followed by earliest Cretaceous breakup along the rest of Fraser et al. (1993) created a stratigraphy for western
the margin, brought the first deep-marine conditions into close West Papua based on depositional cycles:
proximity to the continental-edge basins (Baillie et al., 1994).
• The early Toarcian to late Bajocian Inanwatan
Mesozoic passive margin Polysequence (present in the Agung-1, CS-1, TBF-1 and
Gunung-1 wells) was deposited in a nearshore setting,
Data from the Mesozoic exposures in eastern Indonesia progressively passing into fluvial and lacustrine
range from mapping traverses led by BMR/AGSO environments.
542 Geological development of eastern Indonesia and northern Australia collision zone

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Figure 4. Regional palaeogeographic reconstructions for (a) Mid to Late Silurian at 420 Ma, (b) Late Devonian at 360 Ma, (c) Late
Permian at 255 Ma and (d) Late Triassic at 220 Ma, showing relative position of East and Southeast Asian terranes and distribution of
land and sea (modified after Metcalfe, 1998). NC = North China, SC = South China, T = Tarim, I = Indochina, Q = Qiangtang, L =
Lhasa, S = Sibumasu, WB = West Burma, GI = Greater India.
 Baillie et al. 543

• The early Callovian to early Kimmeridgian Roabiba considered to exist within the northern Bird’s Head, parallel
Polysequence (CS-1 and TBF-1 wells) follows a to the coastline of Berau Bay. Existing northwest–southeast
12 million year period of erosion or non-deposition and structural lineaments controlled deposition within the Bird’s
comprises significant sandstones, together with Head. It is thought that the Jurassic coastline transgressed
claystone and limestone deposited in a nearshore northward through the Jurassic (subject to eustatic
environment. variations). Throughout the eastern Indonesia region and the
• The mid-Tithonian to early Valanginian Sebyar Timor Sea, reservoir quality sandstones were deposited in
Polysequence represents a major regional transgression nearshore marine settings during the early Late Jurassic (see
following a major stratigraphic break. also Barber et al., 2003), prior to the so-called “Break-up
Event”. It is proposed here that the Plover Sandstone reservoir
The Coniacian to Maastrichian Jass Polysequence of the Timor Sea is synchronous with both the reservoir of
(Agung-1, CS-1, TBF-1, Gunung-1 and Onin South-1 wells) the Abadi discovery (Indonesia Masela PSC; Nagura et al.,
followed early Cretaceous erosion. A major transgression 2003) and the Tangguh Field, suggesting a similar
took place from the mid-Campanian, leading to the deposition depositional setting over an enormous area of coastline and
of deepwater argillaceous sediments. nearshore marine environment.
The Triassic rocks of eastern Indonesia have a The Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous are less widely
predominantly marine carbonate aspect. Rich oil-prone recognised because their deposition was adversely affected
source rocks exist in both Buru (Fraser et al., 1993) and by major structural events. The “Break-up Event” resulted
Seram islands. However, in the Bird’s Head, an NNGPM in regional inundation of the low-lying coastline and shallow
well, Puragi-1, penetrated a reservoir quality sandstone that marine fringe, resulting in widespread deep marine claystone
is thought to be Triassic in age. deposition. Depositional packages are complex and hard to
The Jurassic has been sampled by fieldwork within West correlate, due to subsequent partial erosion and varied
Papua, and also on the islands of Banggai, Sula, Tanimbar structural attitudes as the rift basins stabilized and
and Kai. Numerous wells have penetrated the Jurassic, subsequently failed again. A major sediment-starved flooding
predominantly as marine clastics. The thickest succession is (deepening) event in Aptian/Albian times resulted in the
recorded within the well TBJ-1, just west of the Onin deposition of the Darwin Radiolarite in the Timor Sea region.
Peninsula (Fig. 1). The Jurassic appears to pinch out towards To the authors’ current knowledge, the radiolarite lithofacies
the Bird’s Head and an east–west depositional margin is has yet to be recognised within West Papua.
ERA

TECTONIC
EPOCH STAGES STRATIGRAPHY OF WESTERN WEST PAPUA
PLEIST. Clastic sedimentation Klasaman Fm: sandy mudstone and
KLASAMAN & KLASAFET calcareous sandstone. Conglomerates
PLIOCENE in new basins FORMATIONS and lignite in upper part.
Klasafet Fm: marl, siltstone and a little limestone.
LATE
MIOCENE

MID. UPPER NEW GUINEA

LIMESTONE GROUP Kais Fm: reefal limestone.
CENOZOIC

EAR. = KAIS & SIRGA

FORMATIONS Sirga Fm: transgressive clastic sequence
Mid Oligocene (mudstone, locally sandstone).
EOCENE OLIGO-

L.
sea-level fall
EAR.
LOWER NEW GUINEA Faumai Fm: bank and shoal arenaceous
L. LIMESTONE GROUP limestone with abundant foraminifers.
Establishment of = FAUMAI & WARIPI Waripi Fm: oolitic and bioclastic foraminiferal
MID.
widespread carbonate FORMATIONS limestone, calcareous sandstone and
EAR. shelf facies mudstone in places.
PALEO L.
EAR.
Major regional JASS Deep marine argillaceous section. No terrestrial
transgression POLYSEQUENCE influence. Volcanic event at the base.
LATE
CRETACEOUS

Major
KEMBELANGAN GROUP FORMATION

Post- Breakup erosion:

Open marine, low 50 m.y.
EARLY

sedimentation rates
SEBYAR Open marine fine clastic deposits
POLYSEQUENCE and deep water clays.
Major regional
transgression
LATE

ROABIBA Transgressive sequence: claystone pass up

? POLYSEQUENCE into limestone, sandy in places. Little
JURASSIC
MESOZOIC

terrestrial influence.
MIDDLE

Restricted marine

INANWATAN Nearshore marine to progressively non marine:

shallow water marine limestone + lacustrine
LATE EARLY

POLYSEQUENCE
& anoxic sands, clays and coal.
Breakup
Uplift, block faulting,
local volcanism; rapid
TRIASSIC

sedimentation
followed by erosion
MID. TIPUMA FORMATION Continental red beds (shale and sandstone).
EAR.
Pre- Breakup Marine mudstone and limestone passing up
PALAEOZOIC

PERMIAN AIFAM GROUP

into non marine clastic sequence.
Figure 5. Stratigraphy of western CARBONIF. Stable platform ? ?
West Papua (modified after Pairault, DEVONIAN Metamorphosed turbidites
KETUM FORMATION (mostly slate and shale).
2002). SILURIAN
544 Geological development of eastern Indonesia and northern Australia collision zone

The rest of the Late Cretaceous saw continuing deep young metamorphic rocks. Very young ages (<5 Ma) suggest
marine deposition with occasional shallowing, probably recent extension and a possible core complex formation;
controlled by structural tilting linked to post-rift thermal sag. these young metamorphic rocks require further investigation.
Carbonate rocks are recognised within some wells drilled in A gravity low is present only along the eastern margin of
the northern Australian margin. Cenderawasih Bay, therefore it appears unlikely that the entire
Key petroleum system attributes of the Mesozoic are: bay has opened by rotation. Transpressional extension along
the north-northeast lineament close to the eastern margin may
1. Oil-prone source rocks within (a) marine Late Triassic be responsible for the rhomboidal shape of the deepest part
marine carbonates, and (b) paralic Middle–Late Jurassic of Cenderawasih Bay, possibly related to the development of
clastics. the Lengguru Fold Belt to the west and south.
2. High quality sandstone reservoirs of Middle–Late The once contiguous microcontinents of eastern Indonesia
Jurassic age widespread throughout the north Australian were dismembered and dispersed by Sorong fault splays around
margin. 20 Ma, resulting in the formation of the Bird’s Head, Seram-
3. Thick Cretaceous claystone successions provide Buru, Obi-Bacan, Buton-Tukang Besi and Banggai-Sula
effective seal to reservoir and burial for source. complexes (Pigram and Panggabean, 1984; Hall, 2002). Since
4. The “Break-up Event” of Late Jurassic age (climax) 12 Ma, the authors consider that the Bird’s Head has not moved
provides the initial structural setting for most of today’s any significant distance. A small counter-clockwise rotation took
hydrocarbon discoveries. place between 4 and 8 Ma, and relatively small strike-slip
movements between 4 and 8 Ma and also 0.5 and 2 Ma (Hall,
Neogene Collision 2002). These events may well have direct relevance to the
development of Cenderawasih Bay.
Between 45 and 25 Ma, there was subduction north of The Sorong Fault System, the southern boundary of both
Australia, remnants of which are seen in the mantle (Hall the Molucca Sea and the Philippine Sea plates with the
and Spakman, 2002). Australian Plate (Hall and Wilson, 2000), is one of the most
Initial collision between the Australian and the Philippine important structural elements of South East Asia. The Sorong
plates began around 25 Ma when transcurrent motion of the Fault has been responsible for translating continental
Philippine Plate resulted in the shaving of blocks from the fragments from the northern margin of the Australian Plate
northerly protrusion of the Australian continent (Pigram and (i.e. the Bird’s Head) into the outer edge of Sundaland
Panggabean, 1984; Hutchison, 1989; Longley, 1997). The (Pigram and Panggabean, 1984; Hutchison, 1989). This fault
leading edge of the Australia Plate arrived at the Indonesian system was initiated in the early Miocene, the result of
arc subduction zone and initiated the New Guinea fold belt oblique convergence of Australia and the Philippine Sea,
(Hamilton, 1979; Hall, 1996). Caroline and Pacific plates, and continues to the present day.

Bird’s Head (Kepala Burung) and the Sorong Fault Zone The Banda Arc

The western extremity of the island of New Guinea lying to The Banda Arc, a west-facing horseshoe-shaped arc, lying
the north of 2°S is known as the “Bird’s Head” (Kepala between the Timor and Arafura seas and the Birds Head
Burung; Fig. 1). The core region comprises Palaeozoic and micro-continent is the locus of the convergence and critical
southward-younging continental rocks of the Kemum Block, to understanding the tectonic development of the region.
thought to have formed on a passive continental margin From the Banda Sea side outwards, the arc comprises an
(Pigram and Davies, 1987). The Kemum Block is separated inner volcanic arc, which has been active since the Late
from three principal fault-bounded blocks to the north by the Miocene, and an outer non-volcanic arc of islands formed
Sorong Fault. The Tamrau, Netoni and Tosem blocks comprise principally of allochthonous sedimentary, metamorphic and
disparate successions of Mesozoic and Cenozoic arc-derived some igneous rocks (Darman and Sidi, 2000; Hall, 2002).
sedimentary and igneous rocks (Pigram and Davies, 1987; The Inner Banda Arc includes the Solor and Alor island
Hall and Wilson, 2000). groups, Wetar and Banda, and the Outer Banda Arc includes
There is some uncertainty as to the origin of the Bird’s Timor, Tanimbar, Kai Besar, Seram and Buru (Fig. 1).
Head, in particular its location relative to Australia in Jurassic The Outer Banda Arc comprises a series of belts of rocks
times and whether it has rotated significantly during the (Bowin et al., 1980; Darman and Sidi, 2000) comprising:
Neogene. There is no compelling evidence for either (a)
significant rotation, or (b) an origin from the eastern side of • a discontinuous inner belt of “ophiolite”, which in
Australia (e.g. Struckmeyer et al., 1993). general is blocky and narrow;
The origin of Cenderawasih Bay is also uncertain. The • a belt of low- to high-grade metamorphic rocks;
triangular shape and water depths of more than 2 km suggests • a fold-and-thrust belt dominated by Permo-Triassic
that it could have opened to the north (cf. sphenochasm sedimentary rocks derived from the Australian
concept of Carey, 1958). However, the geometric arguments continental margin;
rely on shapes of poorly mapped features and depths in the • a fold-and-thrust belt dominated by Late Mesozoic and
order of 2 km are not typical of normal oceanic crust. If the Cenozoic deepwater sediments; and
underlying crust is oceanic, it must be overlain by a • an outer belt of uplifted late Neogene basins.
considerable thickness of sediment. Its age is unknown. In
addition, satellite gravity data (Fig. 6) indicates a strong The rocks of the Outer Banda Arc comprise Late Triassic
gravity high along the Wandamen Peninsula due to very to Early Jurassic shallow water clastics and carbonates
 Baillie et al. 545

0
80

12
00 800

40 800
0
1°S
0

0 0
-40 0
-800

800

40 -400
0

0
-40
3°S

0 0
0 -80
-40
400

0 km 100

5°S 130°E 132°E 134°E 136°E

Figure 6. Satellite gravity, Bird’s Head and Cenderawasih Bay (source: www.deos.tudelft.nl/altim/ceo/pim.html), with onshore Bouguer
anomalies and trends (after Dow et al., 1986) indicated.

unconformably overlain by a Late Jurassic to Palaeogene Banda allochthon. Deep seismic studies have reinforced
condensed sequence of deep-water carbonate and chert the suggestion of subduction polarity reversal (Snyder
– stratigraphies vary only after the Oligocene. Indeed, et al., 1996).
the virtually identical (“Australian”) Mesozoic
stratigraphies of Buton, Buru and Seram (and possibly Trough systems
East Sulawesi) suggest that they originally formed part
of the Australian craton (Audley-Charles et al., 1979; Many previous workers have described a single trough
Milsom, 2000). system resembling a giant horseshoe extending from the
Major thrust faults have been mapped north of the Java Trench through the Timor, Tanimbar and Aru troughs
Timor Trough to the west of, and on the island of Timor, into the Seram Trough (Fig. 3). This may be fortuitous, but
north of Wetar (the currently seismically active Wetar incorrect. The deep-water crustal lineaments and
Thrust), north of the island of Flores (Flores Thrust) and corresponding gravity lows (Figs 2, 6) observed throughout
north of Tanimbar. A number of northeast-trending strike- the study area owe their origin to a number of widely different
slip faults and fracture zones have been mapped along the mechanisms.
Banda Arc deformation zone, extending from Sumba to The Java Trench (Fig. 3) marks the boundary between
Tanimbar (McCaffrey, 1996). the Indian Ocean-Australian plates and Sunda-Indonesian
Earthquakes suggest that the present stage of the arc lithosphere, and has been the location of subduction
collision of the Australian continental margin with the through most of the Cenozoic. The Java Trench and all
Banda Arc probably involves more rapid convergence at present-day subduction terminate near the island of Sumba
the backarc thrusts than at the Timor Trough. The Wetar (Fig. 3). Subduction has completed consumption of oceanic
and Flores backarc zones are considerably more energetic crust outboard of the Tertiary accretionary wedge (green
seismically than the subduction thrust fault north of the colour on Fig. 3).
eastern Java Trench and Timor Trough; all known large The Timor, Tanimbar, Aru and Seram troughs, generally
thrust earthquakes recorded during the 1990s occurred at less than 50 km across and only 1.0–2.5 km deep, mark the
the Flores and Wetar thrusts (McCaffrey, 1996). A change edge of relatively undeformed Australian continental crust
from south- to north-directed thrusting after the emergence – the deformed leading edge of the continental crust is
of Timor is noteworthy (Price and Audley-Charles, 1987; indicated by vertical overprint on Figure 3. Modern high
Hall and Wilson, 2000); subduction reversal may be in quality seismic data (Fig. 7a-d) permits evaluation of these
progress, accompanied by the recent disappearance of the contact zones.
546 Geological development of eastern Indonesia and northern Australia collision zone

Figure 7a shows a representative line across the Seram Most previous workers have recognized that the trough
Trough, broadly similar to the Timor Trough, albeit with system is a relatively young and active tectonic feature.
reversed polarity. Gravity data (Fig. 2) indicates a gravity New seismic data from the Tanimbar Trough gives
high centred on Kai Besar, showing that the Seram Trough independent supporting evidence for a very young age
is not contiguous with the Aru Trough. (Fig. 9). Modern and fossil submarine canyons indicative
The Aru Trough (Fig. 7b), immediately north of the of deepwater conditions probably developed during
Tanimbar Trough, is totally different in character and shows Pleistocene lowstands, when sediment was made available
abundant evidence of strike-slip movements with rapid from the Arafura Platform. These are confined to the
ponding of recent sediment in deep, linear depocentres Pliocene and younger section.
(Fig. 8). Along the eastern flank of the trough, dredged
samples include Carboniferous–Permian siliciclastics, Discussion
Jurassic–Cretaceous black shale, late Albian to late Eocene
open-marine pelagic sediment, early Miocene shallow-water Subduction and accretion
platform carbonate and late Miocene to Holocene pelagic
sediment (Cornee et al., 1997). Almost as contentious as the origin of the Banda Arc, has
It is possible that the eastern contact continues though been the location and timing of post-Jurassic subduction in
the “Bird’s Neck” and along the eastern (markedly linear) the region. From at least early Eocene times until the present
side of Cenderawasih Bay where it is probably terminated day, oceanic crust has been subducting west and south of
by the Yapen Fault, a splay of the Sorong Fault. West Papua Sundaland (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, west Sulawesi) and north
gravity data (Fig. 6) indicates the presence of dislocation of New Guinea (Hall 2002). The current (fast) northward
across the “Bird’s Neck”, supporting this conclusion. movement of the Australian Plate of 9 cm/year was initiated
Figures 7c and 7d traverse the Tanimbar and Timor around 48 Ma (e.g. Baillie et al., 1994) implying that in
troughs respectively. The downwarped Australian plate excess of 4,000 km of shortening must be accommodated at
shows evidence of relatively minor, brittle extensional the northern margin.
deformation. The contact zone is relatively sharp and displays While conventional subduction of Indian Ocean
relatively minor compressional deformation. Rocks of the oceanic crust (oceanic part of the Australian plate)
Outer Banda Arc are highly deformed and include a series continues in the Java Trench (Masson et al., 1990), all
of stacked thrust sheets. other troughs are not as straightforward. Rocks of the
Indonesian archipelago are juxtaposed with continental
rocks of the Australian plate where there is no subduction
currently taking place. The boundary between the two
regimes is clearly at Sumba where a promontory of
Australian continental lithosphere collided with Sumba
between 8 Ma (Keep et al., 2003) and 16 Ma (Rutherford
et al., 2001), also resulting in the mid-Miocene
unconformity across Timor and subduction of Jurassic
oceanic crust in the Banda Sea (Hall, 2002, fig. 24).
GPS measurements indicate that Timor appears to moving
northward at about the same rate as Australia (Genrich et al.,
1994; McCaffrey 1996).

Banda Arc and Trough systems

The Banda Arc appears to have achieved the impossible by

being in collision simultaneously, and with the same plate,
to the north and to the south (Milsom et al., 1996).
The cause of the extreme curvature of the Banda Arc is
one of the major unsolved problems of South East Asian
geology (Milsom et al., 1996). As noted by Hall (2002),
the curvature itself has suggested derivation as a result of
rotation driven by collision – many other authors have had
many other ideas. There are four disparate groups of
theories on the origin of the arc:

• Folding of an earlier east-west arc.

• The arc achieved its present curvature in the
Cretaceous.
• The arc was formed by accretion of Australian
continental material leading to enclosure of the Banda
Figure 7. Representative seismic lines across collision zone, (a)
Seram Trough, seismic line EIR98–201, (b) Aru Trough, line
Sea oceanic basin.
EIR98–106, (c) Tanimbar Trough, line MH01–11, (d) Timor • The arc inherited its present shape from the irregular
Trough, line MH01–18; location of lines indicated on Figure 1. Jurassic Australian continental margin.
 Baillie et al. 547

SP: 6500.0 6000.0 5500.0 5000.0 4500.0 4000.0

5.000 5.000

6.000 6.000

7.000 7.000

8.000 8.000

9.000 9.000

Figure 8. Detail of Aru Trough seismic line.

- MH01-18 -
SP: 5000.0 4500.0 4000.0 3500.0 3000.0 2500.0 2000.0

1.000 1.000

2.000 2.000

3.000 3.000

4.000 4.000

5.000 5.000

Figure 9. Detail of seismic line MH01–18, showing modern and fossil submarine canyons; prominent seismic marker below canyons
is Base Pliocene (green arrow). Note canyons young away from trough axis, suggesting dynamic system with sequential activation
rather than a single event.
548 Geological development of eastern Indonesia and northern Australia collision zone

The age of the Banda Sea is critical for tectonic Palaeozoic building blocks, development of a Mesozoic mid-
reconstructions – assumed ages of formation range from latitude passive margin on the eastern margin of
Mesozoic to Neogene (Norvick, 1979; Milsom, 2000; Pigram Gondwanaland, and the Neogene collision of Australia and
and Panggabean, 1983). More recently, the age of the Banda the Indonesian archipelago. Present day regional tectonic
Sea has been thought to be Late Triassic, related to the opening elements are shown as Figure 3.
of Meso-Tethys (Metcalfe, 1998), or Jurassic related to By the early Palaeozoic, the region was part of the eastern
separation of the West Burma block from northern Australia margin of Gondwanaland (Metcalfe, 1998).
(Longley et al., 2002; Hall, 2002). It now appears that there During Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times, three significant
have been two episodes of oceanic crust formation in the region periods of terrane dispersion occurred where continental
(a) Jurassic oceanic crust generated during the breakup of the fragments separated from the margin of Gondwanaland, drifted
Gondwanaland margin (“Proto-Banda Sea” of Hall, 2002), northward and were subsequently accreted to the Eurasian
which has now been subducted, and (b) Neogene oceanic crust craton (Hutchison, 1989).
of the present Banda Sea, as originally suggested by Hamilton At around 160 Ma, the northern margin of Australia lay at
(1979), and confirmed by dredging and interpretation of approximately 40°S latitude – and remained in mid-latitudes
anomalies (Hall, 2002). through the Cretaceous (Baillie et al., 1994). By the end of the
The geology of Timor has been used to constrain tectonic Jurassic, this somewhat irregular margin was part of a passive
models for the region. Three main structural models have been margin facing an open ocean containing several continental
proposed for Timor (Richardson and Blundell, 1996): blocks or microcontinents – much of this oceanic crust has
subsequently been subducted.
1. The Imbricate Model – Timor is interpreted as an The present complex geology of the region results from
accumulation of chaotic material imbricated against the two disparate tectonic forces: (1) northward movement of the
hanging wall of a subduction trench, the Timor Trough, Australian Plate, and (2) sinistral shear on the northern margin
and essentially forms a large accretionary prism. of New Guinea (Sorong fault system), resulting from relative
2. The Overthrust Model – Timor is interpreted in terms of motion of the Australian and Pacific plates. Initial collision
Alpine-style thrust sheets. between the Australian and the Philippine plates began around
3. The Rebound Model – the Australian continental margin 25 Ma when sinistral transcurrent motion of the Philippine
entered a subduction zone in the vicinity of the Wetar Plate resulted in the shaving of blocks from the northerly
Strait. Subsequently, the oceanic lithosphere detached protrusion of the Australian continent.
from the continental part due to “slab snapping”, resulting
in the uplift of Timor by isostatic rebound on steep faults. Acknowledgements

Various combinations of these differing models have also Figure 2 was compiled by Dino Loschi. We thank Nick
been proposed. Hoffman and Ron Noble for useful reviews and TGS-NOPEC
The trough systems of the collision zone are less well Geophysical Company and WesternGeco for permission to
studied. A recent study of the Seram Trough system (Pairault, publish proprietary information.
2002; Pairault et al., 2003), has shown that evolution is
complex, with the following sequence of Neogene events References
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Peter Baillie is a graduate of the Tom Fraser was born in Scotland

University of Tasmania (geology) and educated at Queen Mary
and Macquarie University in College, London University under
Sydney (sedimentology, basin the eagle eye of Prof. Jake
analysis). He was employed at the Kirkaldy. Tom’s baptism into the
Tasmanian Department of Mines oil and gas industry was by
from 1970 until 1993 and held mudlogging in the North Sea. He
various positions in regional progressively worked his way into
geological mapping and petroleum interpretation and New Ventures
exploration administration. In 1993, tasks. He has worked in
he moved to the Department of Minerals and Energy in Western 17 different countries, including South America and West
Australia as Manager of the Exploration and Production Branch Africa. During the last 15 years he has worked principally in
in the Petroleum Division. He joined TGS-NOPEC Geophysical South East Asia, in both Mesozoic and Tertiary basins. His
Company in 1997 and is Chief Geologist Asia Pacific. Formerly principal interests are in integration of seismic and geological
the Managing Editor of the PESA Journal, Peter was Deputy information, and the quantification and display of Petroleum
Chairman of WABS II (1998) and Chairman of WABS III (2002). System attributes. He enjoys a significant after-hours
relationship with his Fender bass.
Robert Hall is Professor of Geology
and Director of the SE Asia Research
Group at Royal Holloway University
of London. He completed his PhD in Keith Myers graduated in
1974 on ophiolites and sutures in geology at Curtin University,
eastern Turkey and later worked in Western Australia and
the Eastern Mediterranean and undertook post-graduate
Middle East for several years. Since studies in petrology and
1984, he has worked in South East mineralogy. After a period in
Asia, mainly in Indonesia, carrying gold exploration, he moved to
out field-based research supported by industrial consortia, with petroleum consulting firm Dolan
post-doctoral researchers and postgraduate research students. & Associates in 1992, working
These studies have been the basis for computer animations of on projects in various locations
the plate tectonic reconstructions of SE Asia and the SW in Australia, South East Asia and Africa. In 1999, he joined
Pacific for the Cenozoic. Research interests: Regional geology Western Geophysical as Manager of Exploration &
of SE Asia and the western Pacific. Island arc origin and Reservoir Services, with continued involvement in Asia,
evolution. Plate tectonic reconstructions of SE Asia and the especially China and Indonesia. After the formation of
west Pacific. Seismic tomography, mantle processes and the WesternGeco joint venture, he moved to Kuala Lumpur
tectonics of the region. Tropical sedimentation: links to as Business Development Manager for the Asia Pacific
provenance, climate and tectonics. Implications of plate region. Keith is a member of PESA, SEAPEX and the
tectonics for biogeography of SE Asia. Geological Society of Malaysia.

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