Cenozoic Palaeogeographic Evolution of Sulawesi and Borneo

ELSEVIER
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 145 (1999) 303337
Cenozoic palaeogeographic evolution of Sulawesi and Borneo

Moyra E.J. Wilson , Steve J. Moss 1
SE Asia Research Group, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
Received 30 September 1997; revised version received 1 July 1998; accepted 6 July 1998
Abstract
Sulawesi and Borneo are located in the middle of the Indonesian Archipelago, an area which has been extremely
tectonically active throughout the Cenozoic. This paper compiles current knowledge on the geology and palaeogeography
of this complex region and includes the first attempt to synthesise palaeogeographic data onto plate tectonic reconstructions.
Construction of palaeogeographic maps helped to identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of current plate tectonic
models for the region, thereby highlighting areas where further geological research is required. Palaeogeographic maps
presented, using plate tectonic reconstructions as a base, illustrate the evolution of Borneo and Sulawesi and highlight
important changes in the environment during the Cenozoic. The Tertiary geological history of eastern Borneo and Sulawesi
is inextricably linked to the progressive accretion of continental and oceanic material from the east, onto the eastern margin
of Sundaland, and to the resultant development of volcanic arcs. Large tracts of western Sulawesi, eastern Borneo, the East
Java Sea and the Makassar Straits formed an extensive basinal area throughout much of the Tertiary. Implications for plate
tectonics, exploration for natural resources and biogeography are discussed from the palaeogeographic reconstructions of
Sulawesi and Borneo. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: palaeoenvironments; palaeogeography; tectonics; Cenozoic; Southeast Asia; biogeography; resources
1. Introduction
The islands of Borneo and Sulawesi lie in the
midst of an extremely complex tectonic region where
three major plates; the Indo-Australian, PhilippinePacific and Asian plates interact and collide (Fig. 1).
The areas between these major plates is a composite domain of smaller microcontinental and oceanic
fragments and a region where volcanism has been
common throughout the Tertiary. Sulawesi and Bor Corresponding
author. Tel.: C44-17844-43592; Fax: C4417844-34716; E-mail: moyra@gl.rhbnc.ac.uk

1 Present address: Robertsons Research Australia Pty Ltd., 69
Outram Street, West Perth, W.A. 6005, Australia.
neo are frontier exploration provinces for many natural resources, such as hydrocarbons, minerals, coal,
material for use in the construction, agricultural or
pharmaceutical industries. A knowledge of the regional variations in palaeogeography through time,
when combined with information such as stratigraphic thicknesses or nature of volcanism may
provide a useful tool for the exploration of these
natural resources. An understanding of the evolution
of this region is also of critical importance to biogeographers, since Wallaces original faunal divide
runs between the two islands, and is now taken to
represent the eastern boundary of Asiatic biota.
A range of geological information suggests that
large areas of Kalimantan and western Sulawesi had
c 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

0031-0182/99/$ see front matter
PII: S 0 0 3 1 - 0 1 8 2 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 2 7 - 8
304
M.E.J. Wilson, S.J. Moss / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 145 (1999) 303337
Fig. 1. Regional tectonic setting of Sulawesi and Borneo and the distribution of pre-Mesozoic cratonic areas and Tertiary basinal area in Sulawesi and Borneo. Modified
after Hamilton (1979), Hutchison (1989), Daly et al. (1991), Parkinson (1991), Van de Weerd and Armin (1992) and Hall (1996).
been juxtaposed and attached to southwestern Borneo, part of the eastern margin of Sundaland, the
stable core of SE Asia, by the Late Cretaceous
(Metcalfe, 1996). Tertiary subduction of the Indian
Ocean, Philippine Sea and Molucca Sea plates was
responsible for the progressive collision, accretion
and assimilation of fragments of continental and
oceanic crust along the eastern margin of Sundaland. Around the eastern and southern margins of
Sundaland, within this overall compressional, subduction-related regime, various extensional episodes
have resulted in the formation of extensive sedimentary basins and in some cases, marginal oceanic
basins developed (the South China, Sulu and Celebes
seas; Fig. 1).
During the last twenty years several Tertiary plate
tectonic reconstructions have been developed for
Southeast Asia (Carey, 1975; Hamilton, 1979; Rangin et al., 1990; Daly et al., 1991; Lee and Lawver,
1994, 1995; Hall, 1996). There is now a growing
consensus over some of the main points of the plate
tectonic evolution of the area, although detailed elements of the reconstructions and the mechanisms
driving plate tectonics are still under dispute. Comparing local palaeogeographic information with regional reconstructions is one way to test the validity
of these reconstructions by highlighting matches or
discrepancies in the inferred tectonic setting and distribution of depositional environments. However, until now for Borneo and Sulawesi, palaeogeographic
reconstructions have only been drawn on a local
scale and rarely within a plate tectonic context. Although we are limited by the incomplete nature of
the geological record or by imperfections in our
knowledge of the geology, for areas where data are
good a reliable test can be made. The first and often
most critical step in plate tectonic reconstructions is
to delimit which areas formed plate boundaries and
to evaluate how the nature of these plate margins
varied through time. A study of facies variations can
help to evaluate discontinuities or possible connections between regions. Comparing palaeogeographic
data with plate tectonic reconstructions also highlights gaps in the geological data base and suggests
key areas for future research.
Borneo and Sulawesi are of prime importance to
biogeography and palaeobiogeography of Southeast
Asia. The faunal divide of Wallace (1863), originally
305
thought to delineate regions of Asiatic and Australian flora and fauna, runs through the Makassar
Straits between the two islands and also between
Bali and Lombok. This original faunal divide is
now taken as the western boundary of Wallacea
(Dickerson, 1928), which is best described as a biogeographic region with a high degree of endemism
situated between areas with Asiatic and Australian
floras and faunas (George, 1981; Whitten et al.,
1987). The Makassar Straits appears to have been a
barrier to dispersal for many groups of animals, although the clear faunal contrast (Earl of Cranbrook,
1981; Briggs, 1987; Musser, 1987) is not reflected to
the same extent by the flora (George, 1981; Van Balgooy, 1987). Regional plate tectonic changes have
been related to biogeography by a number of authors (Audley-Charles et al., 1981; Audley-Charles,
1981, 1987; Burrett et al., 1991; Hall, 1998). This
work concentrates on Borneo and Sulawesi and summarizes how the Cenozoic plate tectonic variations
and the changes in palaeoenvironment may have
affected past migrations=dispersals. A detailed discussion of this topic can be found in Moss and
Wilson (1998).
The future potential economic growth of Southeast Asia is in part dependent on utilising its wealth
of natural resources. Borneo and Sulawesi are both
areas of proven coal, hydrocarbon, minerals and
building material accumulations and considerable
effort is being put into exploration for further discoveries. The location and amounts of these natural
resources depends on the geological evolution of the
area and the past distribution of environments, resulting in the formation of certain rock types and the
economic accumulation of natural resources. Therefore constructing palaeogeographic maps is a useful
tool for furthering the exploration of natural resources, and particularly in the hydrocarbon industry
this method is routinely used.
2. Data sources, quality and methodology

The bases for the plate tectonic template used
in this paper are the recent reconstructions of Hall
(1996) which incorporate new data from eastern Indonesia to help constrain the motion of the Philippine
Sea Plate (Hall et al., 1995). Many reconstructions of
306
the region imply major strike-slip faulting following

Indias collision with the Eurasian margin (Peltzer
and Tapponnier, 1988; Rangin et al., 1990; Daly et
al., 1991; Lee and Lawver, 1994, 1995). The Indian
collision is seen in all these reconstructions as the
major driving force controlling Tertiary tectonics of
Southeast Asia. The reconstruction of Hall (1996)
still recognizes the important influence of major
strike-slip faulting in Southeast Asia (with displacements of about 500 km, after Briais et al., 1993).
However, the major driving forces are suggested to
be the motions of the Philippine Sea Plate and collision of the Australian plate (Hall, 1996). Although
these reconstruction differ in terms of their detail
and mechanisms, most of Borneo and Sulawesi do
not differ significantly for the purposes of plotting
palaeogeographic data.
Compiling palaeogeographic data onto selected
timeslices of the reconstruction highlighted regions
which were incompatible from a palaeogeographic
point of view, thereby providing a test for the plate
tectonic reconstructions. The Atlas program used by
Hall (1996) to reconstruct the Tertiary history of the
region only allowed a certain number of tectonic
fragments to be defined and internal deformation
could not be modeled within these fragments. In a
region which was variously undergoing extension,
compression, transtension or transpression it is unlikely that the individual blocks defined would have
acted rigidly. Therefore, depending on the stress
regime for different areas some internal deformation
has been incorporated and in certain areas, particularly in Sulawesi, the reconstructions used differ
slightly from those of Hall (1996) as suggested by
the palaeogeographic data.
The rotation history of Borneo and western Sulawesi is still highly contentious. Halls (1996) reconstruction incorporated a counterclockwise rotation of southern Borneo and western Sulawesi of 45
between 20 and 10 Ma. However, it is recognised
that regional and local block rotations are difficult to
distinguish and interpret on the basis of the current
palaeomagnetic data available for the region (Rangin
et al., 1990; Ludmadyo et al., 1993; Lee and Lawver,
1994; Hall, 1996; Moss et al., 1997). Various authors
either favour no rotation (Ludmadyo et al., 1993;
Lee and Lawver, 1994) or variable amounts of counterclockwise rotation (Haile et al., 1977; Schmidtke
et al., 1990; Fuller et al., 1991, 1999; Sunyata and

Wahyono, 1991; Moss et al., 1997) for southern
Borneo and the South Arm of Sulawesi for the Tertiary. Since different timing and amounts of rotation
would have affected the evolution and accretion of
material forming eastern Sulawesi and the nature
of the change between northern mainland Borneo
and the South China Sea, the 45 counterclockwise
rotation of Hall (1996) remains in the palaeogeographic reconstructions shown. However, there is a
need for further local and regional palaeomagnetic
work to better understand the rotational history of
the islands.
The series of palaeogeographic maps presented
here illustrate the evolution of Borneo and Sulawesi
during the Cenozoic. The data used in constructing
these palaeogeographies were derived from an extensive literature review and considerable fieldwork by
London University SE Asia Research Group on Borneo and Sulawesi. These maps have been constructed
using all the available geological evidence, including
facies, stratigraphic, biostratigrapic, igneous, metamorphic, structural and palaeomagnetic data. Significant gaps exist within the data set, and particularly
for some of the remoter areas there is limited information. The maps represent time slices, and as
such are attempts to show the environments which
are inferred to have existed around that moment in
time. The time slices shown were chosen to best
illustrate key periods in the palaeogeographic evolution of these islands. In some areas, marked changes
in environment may have taken place before, between and after the time slices shown. Periods of
non-deposition and erosion are not shown on the
diagrams although they have been recognised in
the sedimentary record in several basins. Previous
attempts at palaeogeographic reconstruction have either been limited to small areas, such as hydrocarbon
exploration blocks (Wain and Berod, 1989) or very
generalised palaeogeographies for very long time periods (Umbgrove, 1938; Beddoes, 1980; Rose and
Hartono, 1978; Van de Weerd and Armin, 1992; Sudarmono et al., 1997). As far as we know this is
the first attempt to synthesise palaeogeographic and
plate tectonic data, creating meaningful palaeogeographic reconstructions for the whole area of Borneo
and Sulawesi.
3. Geology and tectonics of Borneo and Sulawesi

Sulawesi and Borneo are situated in a tectonically
complex region between three major plates. The
present-day setting is mirrored by the complexity of
the pre-Tertiary and Tertiary geology of these two
islands, which is briefly reviewed below.
3.1. Borneo
Borneo is bounded by three marginal basins (South
China, Sulu and Celebes seas), microcontinental fragments of south China origin (Dangerous Grounds,
Reed Bank) to the north-northeast, mainland Southeast Asia (Indochina and Peninsula Malaysia) to the
west-northwest and the Javanese volcanic arc to the
south (Figs. 1 and 2). Borneo has been interpreted
as the product of Mesozoic accretion of ophiolitic
material, marginal basin fill, island arc material and
microcontinental fragments onto the Palaeozoic continental core of the Schwaner Mountains in the southwest of the island (Fig. 2; Hutchison, 1989; Metcalfe,
1996). Borneo formed a promontory on the southeastern margin of Sundaland, the stable margin of
the Eurasian plate by the Tertiary. East of Borneo,
and separating it from Sulawesi are the deep North
and South Makassar Basins (Fig. 2), comprising the
Makassar Straits, the formation of which was initiated
by the middle Eocene (Situmorang, 1982). Two NW
SE-trending fault zones bound the North Makassar
Basin to the north and south, respectively.
Pre-Tertiary rocks occur in the southwestern
(Schwaner Mountains) and eastern (Meratus Mountains) parts of Borneo and from northeast to southwest across the island (Central Kalimantan Ranges;
Fig. 2). The Schwaner Mountains include Palaeozoic metamorphic rocks intruded by numerous Cretaceous granites and tonalites, and this area is thought
to have formed part of the stable Sundaland craton during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Permo-Triassic schists, gneisses, granites, gabbros and serpentinites also crop out within the Busang and Embuoi
complexes, located at the eastern and western ends
of the Ketungau Basin, respectively, and are possibly bounded by low-angle detachment faults (Fig. 2;
Pieters and Supriatna, 1990). To the north of the
Schwaner Mountains and within the Central Kalimantan Ranges are other smaller Cretaceous (13175 Ma)
307
granites which intrude deformed basic and ultrabasic

rocks, a melange zone and cherts of probable Jurassic to Cretaceous age (Amiruddin, 1989; Heryanto et
al., 1993; Harahap, 1995). Upper Cretaceous to lower
Tertiary turbidites of the Rajang and Embaluh groups
comprise much of the Central Kalimantan Ranges
and have also been intruded by Cretaceous granites
in places (Pieters and Supriatna, 1990; Fig. 2). An
accretionary prism origin has been inferred for the
lithologies in the Central Kalimantan Ranges (Hamilton, 1979), although Moss (1998) suggested a remnant oceanic basin depositional setting for the turbiditic lithologies. Cretaceous shelf sandstones (Selangkai Formation), limestones, Triassic granites and
older metamorphic rocks also occur in the centre of
Borneo (Pieters and Supriatna, 1990; Fig. 2). A wide
variety of tectonically intercalated sedimentary, metamorphic and basic to ultrabasic igneous rocks occur in
the Meratus Mountains (Fig. 2). These have been interpreted as back-arc oceanic material and associated
volcanic and sedimentary rocks accreted and thrust
onto the eastern margin of the Sundaland craton in
the Early Cretaceous (Sikumbang, 1986, 1990). The
Mesozoic geology of Borneo is reviewed in greater
detail in Tate (1991) and Moss (1998).
Major tracts of eastern, central and northern
Borneo are covered by Tertiary sedimentary rocks
(Fig. 2), which were deposited in lacustrine, fluvial
marginal-marine or marine environments (Fig. 4).
The depocentres, were often laterally interconnected,
locally through intricate and narrow links (Fig. 2;
Pieters et al., 1987; Pieters and Supriatna, 1990).
Tertiary sediments rest unconformably on variably
deformed pre-Tertiary units (Hutchison, 1996a) and
earlier basement structures influenced basin evolution (Cloke et al., 1997). Tertiary sedimentation occurred contemporaneously with, and subsequent to,
a period of Palaeogene extension and subsidence,
which had begun by the middle Eocene (Hutchison,
1996a; Moss et al., 1997; Moss and Finch, 1998;
Moss and Chambers, 1999). The Tertiary sedimentary history in Borneo was punctuated by several
phases of volcanic activity (Fig. 4).
3.2. Sulawesi
Sulawesi is formed of distinct NS-trending tectonic provinces (Fig. 3; Sukamto, 1975), which are
308
Fig. 2. Simplified geological map of Borneo after references given in the text.
309
Fig. 3. Simplified geological map of Sulawesi after references given in the text. Tectono-stratigraphic subdivisions and names of different
areas of Sulawesi used in the text are also shown.
thought to have been sequentially accreted onto Sundaland during the Cretaceous and Tertiary. These
tectonic provinces, moving from west to east, are
the Western Sulawesi Plutono-Volcanic Arc, the
Central Sulawesi Metamorphic Belt, the East Sulawesi Ophiolite and the microcontinental blocks of
BanggaiSula and ButonTukang Besi (Sukamto,
1975; Hamilton, 1979; Parkinson, 1991). In part
due to a lack of information, and to different inter-
pretations of the available data, the evolution and

juxtaposition of fragments within Sulawesi remains
highly contentious. An attempt has been made to
describe the alternative hypotheses and to evaluate
the implications of these varying interpretations.
The Western Sulawesi Plutono-Volcanic Arc, comprising the North and South Arms of Sulawesi, is
composed of thick Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic
sequences overlying pre-Tertiary tectonically interca-
310
lated metamorphic, ultrabasic and marine sedimentary lithologies (Figs. 3 and 5; Sukamto, 1975; Van
Leeuwen, 1981). However, given the very different
lithologies and geochemistry of the igneous rocks
the eastern part of the North Arm is now regarded
as a separate tectonic province from the South Arm
and the neck of the North Arm (Van Leeuwen et al.,
1994; see below). Central Sulawesi and parts of the
Southeast Arm of Sulawesi are composed of sheared
metamorphic rocks and in the east a highly tectonised
melange complex is present, together comprising the
Central Sulawesi Metamorphic Belt (Sukamto, 1975;
Hamilton, 1979; Parkinson, 1991). Similarities between the pre-Tertiary rocks and a few potassium
argon dates from some of the metamorphic rocks have
been used to suggest that these regions, which include microcontinental fragments, had been accreted
onto the eastern margin of Sundaland before the Tertiary (Sukamto, 1975; Hasan, 1991; Parkinson, 1991;
Parkinson et al., 1998; Wakita et al., 1994). However,
data from the Central Sulawesi Metamorphic Belt,
particularly from the Southeast Arm, is sparse, and the
timing of accretion of this area is poorly constrained.
The Tertiary stratigraphy of western Sulawesi is similar to that of eastern Kalimantan and the East Java Sea
because the whole area had begun to subside by the
middle Eocene and a widespread basin formed (Van
de Weerd and Armin, 1992).
The eastern side of the South Arm (Lamasi Volcanics and Kalamiseng Formation) and much of
the eastern parts of the East and Southeast Arms
of Sulawesi are composed of tectonically intercalated marine sedimentary rocks and mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks interpreted as an ophiolitic
sequence (Sukamto, 1975; Silver et al., 1978; Yuwono et al., 1987; Simandjuntak, 1990; Parkinson,
1991; Bergman et al., 1996). A somewhat confusing
array of Cretaceous to Miocene KAr and ArAr
dates have been obtained from the mafic and ultramafic rocks in eastern South Sulawesi (Yuwono
et al., 1987; Bergman et al., 1996). If the Tertiary
ages represent emplacement ages of this ophiolite se-
311
quence (Bergman et al., 1996) then it becomes questionable whether western, central and parts of the
Southeast Arm of Sulawesi were already juxtaposed
by the Tertiary. Alternatively, these Tertiary dates
may be deformational ages related to collision and
accretion of material onto eastern Sulawesi (Polve et
al., 1997). Central and part of the Southeast Arm of
Sulawesi have been attached to western Sulawesi in
the reconstructions shown, although these may need
refinement as further data becomes available.
The East Sulawesi Ophiolite consists of a full
suite of ophiolite lithologies, tectonically intercalated with Cretaceous or Mesozoic pelagic sedimentary rocks. Metamorphic ages (2832 Ma; Parkinson,
1991, 1998) from rocks overthrust by the East Sulawesi Ophiolite suggest emplacement of this ophiolite sequence occurred during or after the middle
to late Oligocene. Palaeomagnetic data (Mubroto et
al., 1994), together with geochemistry and field relationships, have been used to infer that at least part
of the East Sulawesi Ophiolite formed further to the
south in a back-arc setting (Fig. 3; Parkinson, 1991).
In comparison, a single back-arc basin origin for the
East Sulawesi Ophiolite, the Palaeogene Tinombo
Labuanaki Formations of the North Arm of Sulawesi
and the Celebes Sea have been suggested on the basis
of geochemical similarities (Monnier et al., 1995).
Cenomanian to early Oligocene ages have been obtained from mafic rocks in the East Arm, suggesting
that the East Sulawesi Ophiolite may be composite in
nature (Parkinson, 1991). On the reconstructions, the
back-arc basin in which the East Sulawesi Ophiolite,
and other possibly related oceanic fragments, may
have formed, are not shown due to the conflicting
theories on their origin. However, if the Paleogene
igneous lithologies on the North Arm of Sulawesi
were generated in a deep marine setting rather than
as a subduction related arc, the occurrence of a chain
of volcanic islands in northern Sulawesi would then
be questionable.
On the islands of ButonTukang Besi and
BanggaiSula, metamorphic and igneous litholo-
Fig. 4. Simplified Cenozoic stratigraphic correlation in Borneo (after references given in text). Abbreviations for units are: SI D Sintang
Intrusives; BB D Batu Baleh Limestone member; BA D Batu Ayau Formation; BK D Batu Kelau; RM D Ritan Member; UTF D Upper
Tanjung Formation; LTF D Lower Tanjung Formation; T D Tabul; ML D Meliat Limestone; MS D Meliat Sandstone; L D Latih; TF D
Togopi Formation; TK D Tukau; LB D Libong; TJ D Tanjong; SB D S. Banggai; S D Setap Shales; K D Kalumpang; GL D Gomantong
Limestone.
312
gies of continental origin are exposed or are

thought to underlie shallow and deep marine sediments of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic ages, respectively. The Palaeozoic lithologies are thought to have
AustralianNew Guinea affinities, whereas deposition of shallow and deep marine sedimentary lithologies is inferred during rifting and drifting of the fragments in the Mesozoic (Audley-Charles et al., 1988;
Hamilton, 1979; Pigram and Panggabean, 1984; Garrard et al., 1988). Buton is thought to have collided
with eastern Sulawesi during the early (Davidson,
1991) or middle Miocene (Smith and Silver, 1991),
whereas latest Miocene or early Pliocene collision
with the East Arm of Sulawesi is inferred for Banggai Sula (Garrard et al., 1988; Smith and Silver,
1991). Fortuin et al. (1990) and Davidson (1991)
suggested that Tukang Besi was a separate microcontinental block, which was accreted to Buton in
the Plio=Pleistocene, although not all authors recognise this as a separate microcontinental fragment
(Smith and Silver, 1991).
4. Palaeogeographic evolution
A series of palaeogeographic maps for intervals
between the middle Eocene and the present day are
presented as Figs. 611. The palaeoenvironmental
elements distinguished are land areas, including low
lying regions of fluvial deposition, major river systems and marginal marine=deltaic systems, as well
as regions of more mountainous topography. Areas
of shallow water and deeper water fine grained and
coarser redeposited clastic and carbonate deposits
were mapped. Volcanic activity, subdivided into areas of inferred subaerial and submarine volcanism,
is also shown on the reconstructions. The outlines
of the present day coastlines are shown on the reconstructions for reference. Stratigraphic correlation
charts for Borneo and Sulawesi are shown as Figs. 4
and 5, respectively.
313
4.1. Eocene (Figs. 6 and 7)

A land connection between southern Borneo and
mainland Southeast Asia is inferred to have existed
during the Eocene (Pupilli, 1973) and may have
been present since the Jurassic (Lloyd, 1978). A thin
cover (<300 m) of Quaternary sediments is reported
to overlie pre-Tertiary rocks on the Sunda Shelf
(Ben-Avraham and Emery, 1973). However, since
few wells penetrate the succession on the Sunda
Shelf only a limited amount of geological information is available. Although a land area is inferred for
this area throughout much of the Tertiary, it is possible that marine sediments deposited during possible
transgressions of this region may have been removed
by later erosion.
During the late Cretaceous to late Paleocene=
Eocene, turbidites and other deep water sediments
of the Rajang Group, Belaga, Mulu, Kelalan, East
Crocker Formations and parts of the upper Embaluh Group were deposited in deep marine basins in
Sabah, Sarawak and northern Kalimantan (Liechti,
1960; Tate, 1991; Moss, 1998). Fluvial=marginal
marine sands of the Kayan Sandstone Formation
from southern Sarawak have been variously dated as
Late Cretaceous to Tertiary, although structural and
stratigraphic relationships suggest that the ages may
vary across Sarawak (Tate, 1991). Therefore these
sandstones may in part represent the lateral terrestrial and marginal marine equivalents to the deep
marine sediments to the north. The sediments for
these shallow and deep marine clastics in northern
Borneo may have been supplied via river systems
from Indochina. The upper Cretaceous and lowest
Palaeogene sediments were deformed and uplifted
in the Sarawak Orogeny, and are unconformably
overlain by shallow and deep marine sediments
of middle to late Eocene age, such as the Tatau,
Silantek and Melinau Formations in Sarawak and
the middle Eocene Kiham Haloq Sandstone Formation in Kalimantan (Benard et al., 1990; Hutchison,
1996a).
Fig. 5. Simplified Cenozoic stratigraphic correlation in Sulawesi (after references given in text). Abbreviations for units are: S=P V D
Soppeng=Parepare Volcanics; RL D Ratatokok Limestone; BD D Bone Diorite; SL D Salayar Limestone; WF D Walanae Formation; TL
D Tacipi Limestone; BF D Bone Formation; TL D Tonasa Limestone; PU D Puna Formation; PO D Poso Formation; UPL D Upper
Platform Limestone; LPL D Lower Platform Limestone.
314
Fig. 6. Palaeogeographic map for 50 Ma, early Eocene. A key to the environments is shown. Some place names are shown for reference.
Rivers are shown schematically on all the palaeogeographic maps.
Fig. 7. Palaeogeographic map for 42 Ma, middle Eocene. A key to the environments is shown in Fig. 6.
315
316
Cretaceous dates from schists in the basement

complexes in Sulawesi suggest that western and
central Sulawesi had been accreted onto southern
Borneo before the Tertiary (Sukamto, 1975; Parkinson, 1991; Wakita et al., 1996). Outcrops of schists,
gneisses and marbles, of unknown age, also occur
in the Southeast Arm of Sulawesi, the island of
Kabaena and the western part of the North Arm of
Sulawesi. These areas and the South Arm of Sulawesi are regarded as a region of microcontinental
material and may have formed a contiguous land area
during the early Palaeogene as shown on the reconstructions. However, it is stressed that data from this
region, particularly the Southeast Arm of Sulawesi,
is extremely limited and that as more data becomes
available the interpretations may change. Much of
mainland Southeast Asia, southern Borneo and western Sulawesi appear to have been emergent during
the Paleocene and the early Eocene, with a distinct
lack of reliably dated sedimentary rocks recorded
from these periods.
Geochemistry, KAr and zircon fission-track dating of calc-alkaline rocks from the Langi Formation
(63 2.2 Ma; Sukamto, 1975 and 58.5 Ma; Van
Leeuwen, 1981) and dating of interbedded sediments
(Eocene=Oligocene foraminifera from the Langi and
Salo Kalupang Formations) in eastern South Sulawesi suggests that a volcanic arc occurred in this
area during the Palaeogene (Sukamto, 1975; Van
Leeuwen, 1981; Sukamto and Supriatna, 1982). The
calc-alkaline nature and enrichment of light rare
earth elements indicates that the volcanics were subduction related (Yuwono et al., 1985), probably from
a W-dipping subduction zone (Van Leeuwen, 1981).
Palaeogene volcanics, volcaniclastic and sedimentary lithologies of the Tinombo Formation also occur
in west-central Sulawesi and on the North Arm.
However, the Tinombo Formation has very different characteristics in the neck of the North Arm
compared with the eastern part of the North Arm, indicating very different origins for these areas. In the
neck, sedimentary lithologies dominate and include
localised shallow marine limestones of middle and
late Eocene ages, shales and turbidites, of greywacke
composition containing clasts derived from continental material (Van Leeuwen et al., 1994). Volcanic suites consist of basaltandesitedacite, which
are dominantly volcanic arc tholeitic and calcalka-
line (Priadi et al., 1994), and are associated with

later diorite, quartz diorite and granodiorite intrusives (T.M. van Leeuwen, pers. commun., 1998).
Although Polve et al. (1997) suggested a back-arc
setting for this area during the Eocene based on three
dyke samples only. Along the eastern part of the
North Arm volcanic rocks with bimodal associations
of basaltbasaltic andesite and rhyolite dominate and
are intercalated with pelagic limestones and cherts
with a few middle Eocene to lower Miocene nannofossil dates (T.M. van Leeuwen, pers. commun.,
1998). Gabbros and diorites intrude the successions
and the igneous lithologies are tholeitic and MORBlike with a slight negative NbTa anomaly and
their geochemistry suggests a back-arc origin. The
Palaeogene igneous lithologies in the neck of the
North Arm have similarities with those in the rest
of western Sulawesi and may be subduction related
(Priadi et al., 1994), whereas an ophiolitic origin or
early stages of a volcanic arc have been inferred for
the eastern part of the North Arm (Carlile et al.,
1990)
There was widespread formation of basins around
the margins of Sundaland by middle Eocene times.
Much of eastern Borneo, western Sulawesi, the
Makassar Straits and the East Java Sea was a region of middle to late Eocene extension and sedimentation. Depositional environments varied both
temporally and spatially between fluvial, deltaic,
shallow marine clastic and carbonate shelves and
areas of deeper water sedimentation. Evidence for
Eocene extension, block-faulting and subsidence are
seen on seismic lines crossing the Makassar Straits
(Burollet and Salle, 1981; Situmorang, 1982; Guntoro, 1995; Bergman et al., 1996) and this was the
time when the land connection between Borneo and
Sulawesi was severed. The marginal oceanic basin
of the Celebes Sea had begun to form in the middle
Eocene (Weissel, 1980; Rangin and Silver, 1991)
and probably influenced basin initiation in Borneo
and Sulawesi (Hall, 1996, Moss et al., 1997). Basin
formation was partly contemporaneous with Eocene
rhyolitic volcanism (5045 Ma), and ash-falls and
lava flows crop out in the Tarakan (Netherwood and
Wight, 1992) and Kutai Basins (Van Leeuwen et al.,
1990; Heryanto et al., 1993; Suwarna et al., 1993;
Moss et al., 1997). Similar volcanism also occurred
along the southern margin of the Mangkalihat Penin-
sula (Sunaryo et al., 1988) and the in the Muller

Mountains (Pieters et al., 1993b).
In western Borneo, fluvial and lacustrine sediments, such those forming the Ingar and Dangkan
Formations, were deposited throughout much of the
Eocene in elongate depocentres of the Melawi
KetungauMandai Basins (Fig. 2). It is inferred that
sediment deposited in these areas was supplied by
rivers flowing from the south (Schwaner Mountains
area) or west from Indochina, since marine depocentres were present to the north and east and are unlikely to have been a sediment source. Fluvial and
marginal marine sediments were also deposited in
southeastern Borneo, although by late Eocene times
shallow and deep marine clastic and carbonate sedimentation also occurred. Marginal marine lithologies with coals and intercalations of volcanic rocks of
the Sembukung Formation occur with the Tarakan
Muara depocentres, although shallow and deeper water carbonate deposition was common by the Late
Eocene on the Mangkalihat Peninsula (Wilson et al.,
1999). By middle to late Eocene times large parts of
the Kutai Basin (NP1719; Moss and Finch, 1998)
and neighbouring western Sulawesi (Wilson, 1995)
were areas of deep and shallow open oceanic sedimentation (Wilson, 1995; Calvert, pers. commun.,
1998) and a deep marine setting is inferred for much
of the North and South Makassar Basins. Around
the margins of this deep basin, in the Kutai Basin,
the northern part of the Tarakan Basin and western Sulawesi, Upper Eocene deltaic sands, coals and
some shallow marine clastics and carbonates were
deposited (Kusuma and Darin, 1989; Van de Weerd
and Armin, 1992; Coffield et al., 1993; Moss et al.,
1997; Moss and Chambers, 1999). In the western part
of the South Arm of Sulawesi, marginal marine clastics and coals of the Malawa=Toraja Formation are
conformably overlain by a thick sequence of shallow
marine carbonates of the Tonasa Formation, the base
of which is lower=middle Eocene to upper Eocene
(Crotty and Engelhardt, 1993; Wilson and Bosence,
1997). By late Eocene times shallow marine carbonate sedimentation had been established over much of
southern Sulawesi (the Tonasa and Makale Formations) although some areas were separated by deep
marine basins (Wilson and Bosence, 1996; Wilson et
al., 1999). In Sarawak and Brunei dominantly argillaceous sediments of units such as the Silantek and
317
Tatau Formations were deposited under marginal marine to marine conditions (Liechti, 1960). The Upper
Eocene shallow marine carbonates of the Engkili Formation, deposited in the Lubok region of southwestern Sarawak unconformably overlie the Lubok Antu
melange (Haile, 1998). Shallow marine carbonates of
the Melinau Limestone in northeastern Sarawak, are
late Eocene to middle Miocene (Adams, 1965), and
probably developed in areas of antecedent topography
isolated from clastic input.
4.2. Oligocene (Fig. 8)
A land connection between Borneo and Indochina
is still inferred for the Oligocene (Pupilli, 1973;
Lloyd, 1978). Turbiditic sediments and shales of
the Temburong, Setap Shale and West Crocker Formations were deposited in Sarawak and Sabah in
deep marine basins. These may have been fed large
quantities of sediment by river systems originating in the Central Kalimantan Ranges or Indochina.
These deep marine successions pass laterally into
shallow marine sediments (Temburong and Setap
Formations) in Brunei (Tate, 1994) and deltaic sedimentation occurred around the margins of the basin
in Sabah and Sarawak. Several areas of shallow marine carbonate deposition (Melinau, Selidong and
Keramit Formations) were present in the Sabah
Sarawak region throughout most of the Oligocene,
although deposition was not continuous (Adams,
1965). The Sarawak Basin was progressively infilled
with argillaceous sediments during the Oligocene
(Doust, 1981).
In the North and South Makassar Basins, deep
marine sedimentation in uniformly subsiding basins
is inferred for the Oligocene based on flat lying reflectors seen on seismic (Situmorang, 1982; Guntoro,
1995). However, in other parts of the basin, particularly along the eastern margin of the Paternoster
Platform, seismic and borehole data suggests active
extensional faulting may have continued sporadically through the Oligocene, and possibly into the
Miocene (Situmorang, 1982; Guntoro, 1995; Wilson
and Bosence, 1996). Oligocene deep marine sedimentation also occurred in much of the Kutai Basin
(Moss et al., 1997) and in some areas of west-central Sulawesi (Wilson, 1995). In the TarakanMuara
area, the Mangkalihat Peninsula, Barito Basin, off-
318
Fig. 8. Palaeogeographic map for 34 Ma, early Oligocene. A key to the environments is shown in Fig. 6.
shore southern Barito and in South Sulawesi extensive areas of shallow water carbonate platforms
developed or continued to accumulate sediment during the Oligocene, whilst deeper water marls were
deposited in adjacent areas (Bishop, 1980; Van de
Weerd et al., 1987; Bransden and Matthews, 1992;
Netherwood and Wight, 1992; Saller et al., 1992,
1993; Van de Weerd and Armin, 1992; Supriatna et
al., 1993; Wilson, 1995; Wilson et al., 1999). A number of Oligocene unconformities in these areas have
been related to local tectonics, possibly enhanced by
eustatic sea-level variations (Netherwood and Wight,
1992; Saller et al., 1993; Satyana, 1995). An input of
volcaniclastic sediments is recorded in west-central

Sulawesi.
The depocentre of the mainly fluviatile west Kalimantan Basin (MelawiKetungauMandai Basins)
had begun to diminish in size or had already been
infilled by the early Oligocene. Fission track dating
of derived apatite grains and seismic data suggest
that the Semitau ridge began to rise in the early
Oligocene (Moss et al., 1998), and this uplift would
have favoured erosion rather than deposition in this
area. Deltaic and pro-delta environments appeared
in the western part of the Kutai Basin towards the
end of the Oligocene (Van de Weerd and Armin,
1992; Tanean et al., 1996; Moss et al., 1997). This is

thought to be related to uplift of the central ranges
of Borneo towards the end of the Oligocene, and the
erosion of these areas supplied sediment eastwards
towards the Makassar Straits (Moss et al., 1998).
Tectonically intercalated ultramafic and mafic
rocks and intercalated marine sedimentary rocks
comprising much of the East and Southeast Arms
of Sulawesi have been interpreted as part of an ophiolite sequence (Simandjuntak, 1986). Metamorphic
ages of between 28 and 32 Ma, obtained by KAr
analysis, from the metamorphic sole at the base of
the East Sulawesi Ophiolite suggest the ophiolitic
suite was emplaced during or after the latest early
or late Oligocene (Parkinson, 1991, 1998). Prior to
the emplacement of the East Sulawesi Ophiolite onto
western Sulawesi, the ophiolite succession would
have formed as part of the ocean crust in a deep
marine environment, with a possible back-arc or
supra-subduction zone origin (Girardeau et al., 1995;
Monnier et al., 1995; Parkinson, 1998). The progressive emplacement of the ophiolitic material would
have resulted in the development of more extensive
land areas in Sulawesi.
The microcontinental blocks of BanggaiSula,
Buton and Tukang Besi although drifting westwards
during the Oligocene, had yet to be accreted onto
Sulawesi. Permo-Triassic schists and slates of continental origin are overlain by Upper Triassic to
Jurassic shallow marine clastics and carbonates and
deep marine Jurassic=Cretaceous shales, which are
thought to have been deposited during rifting and
drifting away from the Australian continent (Garrard et al., 1988; Davidson, 1991; Smith and Silver,
1991). Eocene to Miocene shallow marine clastics
and carbonates of the Salodik and Pancoran Formations unconformably overlie older lithologies on
BanggaiSula (Garrard et al., 1988). In the Buton
and Tukang Besi areas, deep water carbonates of the
Tobelo Formation were deposited between the Late
Cretaceous and the late Eocene or early Oligocene
(Smith and Silver, 1991; Davidson, 1991). Therefore, although these microcontinental blocks would
not have been land areas during the rifting and drifting phase in the later part of the Mesozoic, some
areas were regions of shallow marine sedimentation
and may have become emergent during the Eocene
and Oligocene.
319
4.3. Miocene (Figs. 9 and 10)

On the east side of Borneo, particularly in the
TarakanMuara and Barito basinal areas, a switch
in sedimentation style from extensive carbonate
shelves to deltaic deposition and progradation occurred during the Miocene (Achmad and Samuel,
1984; Netherwood and Wight, 1992; Van de Weerd
and Armin, 1992; Siemers et al., 1992; Carter and
Morley, 1996; Stuart et al., 1996). The predominance of deltaic sedimentation around the northern
and eastern parts of Borneo, particularly in the extremely deep Kutai Basin, suggests that most of the
major river systems were draining into these areas.
Abundant detritus was supplied from the uplift and
denudation of the centre of the island and coeval
volcanism (Tanean et al., 1996; Moss et al., 1997,
1998). By the end of the Miocene, the drainage
system within Borneo was similar to the presentday. The Mahakam delta had prograded to near its
present-day position by the middle Miocene, and
siliciclastic marginal marine and deltaic deposition
predominated in this area (Addison et al., 1983; Land
and Jones, 1987). The Makassar Straits was still a
major deep water basin separating Sulawesi from
Kalimantan, although as the land area increased in
eastern Borneo, due to the progradation of deltas,
the distance across this seaway was progressively
reduced.
In northern Borneo, the lower Miocene Melingan delta, middle to upper Miocene Champion delta
and upper Miocene to Quaternary Baram deltas prograded towards the northwest (Koopman, 1996). In
Sabah, shallow marine to marginal marine sediments
were deposited (Tjia et al., 1990; Clennell, 1992).
Several extensive unconformities occur within shallow marine to deltaic Neogene successions in the
offshore West Sabah region. These resulted from
faulting and folding, and the middle and upper
Miocene unconformities are known as the Deep
and Shallow Regional Unconformities, respectively
(Bol and Van Hoorn, 1980; Levell, 1987). During the
late Miocene, the northern Borneo coastline changed
from having a NS orientation to a SWNE orientation, similar to today. A large area of shallow marine
carbonate deposition developed during the middle to
late Miocene in the Luconia Shoals area, which was
sufficiently distant from areas of coastal siliciclastic
320
Fig. 9. Palaeogeographic map for 21 Ma, Early Miocene. A key to the environments is shown in Fig. 6.
deposition in Sarawak (Epting, 1980; Doust, 1981;

Agostinelli et al., 1990; Rice-Oxley, 1991).
Volcanics and associated intrusives of the upper
Oligocene to Lower Miocene Sintang Igneous Suite
crop out sporadically over much of central Borneo
(Bergman et al., 1987; Pieters and Supriatna, 1990;
Pieters et al., 1993a,b, 1993c; Heryanto et al., 1993;
Hutchison, 1996a; Tanean et al., 1996; Moss et al.,

1997, 1998). South-dipping subduction under northwestern Borneo has been inferred as the reason for
this magmatism, although an alternative model of
crustal thickening and sub-crustal melting has also
been suggested (Bergman et al., 1987; Pieters et
al., 1993a,b, 1993c; Tanean et al., 1996). Volcanic
321
Fig. 10. Palaeogeographic map for 8 Ma, late Miocene. A key to the environments is shown in Fig. 6.
arc activity occurred along the Cagayan and Sulu

ridges during the Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene, respectively, and probably resulted in emergent chains
of volcanic islands (Rangin and Silver, 1991). Igneous activity associated with these arcs may have
extended into Sabah and the Philippines, although
the dating of igneous rocks from these areas is older
than from the arcs (Rangin and Silver, 1991).
In South Sulawesi, shallow marine carbonate deposition continued until the middle Miocene, on high
blocks, surrounded by deep marine sedimentation
(Coffield et al., 1993; Wilson et al., 1999). The East
Sulawesi Ophiolite had been or was being accreted
onto western Sulawesi, and it is inferred that land
areas became emergent in central Sulawesi during
the Miocene as a result of this collision. In the
North Arm of Sulawesi magmatic eruptions during
the Oligocene to Miocene produced successively island arc tholeiites and calc-alkaline igneous rocks
(Polve et al., 1997). Shallow marine carbonates are

interbedded with these igneous rocks and volcanic
islands are inferred to have been emergent. During
the middle Miocene to late Miocene=early Pliocene,
a volcanic arc with abundant intrusives and extrusives developed along the length of western Sulawesi
(Yuwono et al., 1987; Bergman et al., 1996). These
igneous lithologies vary from calc-alkaline to mildly
alkalic, potassic, and shosonitic felsic and mafic
composition. This bimodal composition has been
related to lithospheric thickening, resulting from collisions onto eastern Sulawesi and the subsequent
melting of oceanic and continental crust (Coffield et
al., 1993; Bergman et al., 1996).
The microcontinental blocks of BanggaiSula and
Buton Tukang Besi were accreted onto eastern Sulawesi during the Miocene or earliest Pliocene. The
inferred timing of collision of the various fragments
onto eastern Sulawesi varies depending on the au-
322
thor. On Buton, obduction of ophiolitic material

and the erosion of upthrusted pre-Miocene strata
and their subsequent reworking into clastic deposits
of the Tondo Formation has been related to early
(Fortuin et al., 1990; Davidson, 1991) or middle
(Smith and Silver, 1991) Miocene collision of Buton
with the Southeast Arm of Sulawesi=Muna. Prior to
this collision, deep marine sediments were deposited
on Buton, although uplift and thrusting associated
with accretion (Davidson, 1991) may have created
emergent land areas in the middle Miocene. Latest Miocene to early Pliocene collision of Banggai
Sula with eastern Sulawesi has been inferred from
the timing of compressional structures and sedimentological constraints (Garrard et al., 1988, Davies,
1990). Eocene to middle Miocene limestones are
present on Banggai Sula indicating shallow water
depositional environments existed prior to collision
(Garrard et al., 1988; Davies, 1990). These may have

become emergent during the Tertiary and more extensive land areas would have formed after collision.
4.4. PlioceneRecent (Fig. 11)
The coastlines of Borneo and Sulawesi, by the
Pliocene, were similar to the present day. Major areas of shallow water carbonates persisted on
the east and west sides of the Makassar Straits.
Deltaic and marginal marine sedimentation prevailed
around much of the coast of Borneo. The Mahakam
river carries a large sediment volume which is deposited mainly in the delta (estimated at 8.106 m3
yr 1 , Allen, 1996) and deltaic progradation occurred
throughout the Pliocene and continues to the present
day. Similarly, delta progradation on the Sarawak
and Brunei side of Borneo has been rapid and
Fig. 11. Palaeogeographic map for 4 Ma, early Pliocene. A key to the environments is shown in Fig. 6.
involved large quantities of sediment. The Rajang

delta, for example, has an average discharge of 3550
m3 =s (Staub and Esterle, 1994). During the latest
Miocene or Pliocene, Borneo lost its land connection
with mainland Indochina (Lloyd, 1978). Possible
reasons for this include global sea-level changes and
the end of late Miocene glaciation and=or plate readjustments. The present-day Karimata Strait probably
did not form until 7000 years ago, as suggested by
the presence of a drowned Pleistocene river drainage
system on the Sunda Shelf, which is thought to
have developed during a relative sea-level lowstand
(Umbgrove, 1938).
The final juxtaposition of fragments that comprise Sulawesi occurred between the Pliocene and
the present day. Although most authors infer that internal rotation and juxtaposition was achieved via a
system of linked strike-slip faults and thrusts, including the Lawanopo, Matano and Palu faults (Fig. 3),
the linkage and displacements along faults is still
contentious. The Pliocene reconstruction shown is
based on matching palaeoenvironments and assuming reasonable strike slip displacements along major faults and some internal deformation of blocks
within Sulawesi. Continued deformation of Sulawesi
has been related to transpression due to collision
of fragments onto eastern Sulawesi and continued
subduction east of Sulawesi. Indeed, intensely karstified upper Pliocene to Pleistocene limestones of the
Wapulaka Formation, which unconformably overlie older formations in Tukang Besi=Buton, have
been interpreted as syntectonic platform carbonates
deposited on fault-blocks during the collision of
Tukang Besi with Buton (Fortuin et al., 1990; Davidson, 1991). Although, Smith and Silver (1991) considered Buton and Tukang Besi to be part of a single
block, which was accreted by the middle Miocene.
The transpressional regime during the Neogene and
Quaternary resulted in uplift of extensive areas in
Sulawesi and caused the rapid uplift of a number
of high mountain areas, particularly in central Sulawesi. KAr and fission track geochronology data
suggest that between 2 and 5 Ma rapid uplift rates
of 200700 m Ma 1 , typical of fold and thrust belts,
occurred in central Sulawesi (Bergman et al., 1996).
The transpressive regime operating in Sulawesi
during the Neogene and Quaternary, as well as causing uplift of certain areas, also resulted in extension
323
and subsidence in other areas. The evolution of the

deep gulf separating the South and Southeast Arms
of Sulawesi, known as Bone Bay, is inferred to
have developed as an extensional feature in the late
Oligocene (Davies, 1992). Davies (1992) and Guntoro (1995) suggested from seismic data that the
form of Bone Bay was then further modified during
the Miocene=Pliocene by transpressive and transtensional movements. Historic legends and the nature
of Quaternary sediments suggest that until quite recently a seaway separated the South Arm from the
rest of Sulawesi (Van Bemmelen, 1949; Sartono,
1982).
Basaltic to trachyandesitic volcanics of the Metalung Suite or Plateau Volcanics formed shield volcanoes and lava fields in central Borneo in the latest
Miocene to Pleistocene (Moss et al., 1997, 1998).
Igneous activity continued in western Sulawesi until
the Pliocene and Pleistocene and is similar in nature
to late Miocene volcanism in the same area (Yuwono
et al., 1987; Bergman et al., 1996). On the North
Arm of Sulawesi, Miocene to Pliocene calk-alkaline volcanism, producing dominantly andesitic and
some rhyodacitic rocks, is related to S-dipping subduction of the Celebes Sea oceanic crust under the
North Arm (Carlile et al., 1990). A string of active
Quaternary to Recent volcanoes, formed of andesitic
to dacitic pyroclastics, dominate the Sangihe Islands
and the eastern part of the Minahasa region, and
are related to W-dipping subduction under this area
(Carlile et al., 1990).
5. Natural resources
Borneo and Sulawesi are areas of frontier exploration, with considerable economic potential. Proven
and potential hydrocarbon reserves occur in the thick
Tertiary sedimentary sequences (Fig. 12), construction materials are abundant and a number of different
mineral deposits occur associated mostly with igneous rocks (Fig. 13). Active volcanic areas with the
potential for harnessing geothermal energy occur in
the North Arm of Sulawesi and northern Borneo.
This section provides a review of known resources of
these two islands, relating them to spatial and temporal palaeogeographic variations. In the past economic deposits in the area have mostly either been
324
discovered by enterprising local people or by explorationists and prospectors using standard geological
techniques. However, palaeogeographic reconstructions have become a recognised and increasingly
important tool in the future exploration for natural
reserves and their potential usage is also reviewed.
Coals were deposited in western Sulawesi and
eastern Kalimantan during the Eocene as part of
the syn-rift succession in the Tertiary depocentres.
These coals are usually marginal-marine, although
some lacustrine coals have been identified in southeastern Kalimantan (Fig. 12). The thickness of coal
beds is usually up to a few metres, although 8 and
15 m thickness beds occur in southeastern Kalimantan and the LariangKarama Basins in Sulawesi,
respectively (Van Bemmelen, 1949; S. Calvert, pers.
commun.). Although large, economically viable coal
fields occur in southern Kalimantan (Van Leeuwen,
1994), in most other areas of Borneo and Sulawesi
the Palaeogene coals are mined on a local scale.
In comparison, numerous economically viable coal
seams occur in the Neogene successions, often in
deltaic sequences, in Sabah, Sarawak, eastern and
southeastern Kalimantan (Fig. 12; Pei, 1992; Van
Leeuwen, 1994; Hutchison, 1996b). An example of
these are middle Miocene coals near Samarinda in
the Kutai Basin where some 1000 Mt of resources
have been recognised in some 43 seams ranging between 1.5 and 13 m thick (Land and Jones, 1987).
In Sabah and Sarawak the Meliau and Merit Pila
coal fields are estimated to have 400 and 200 Mt
of reserves, respectively (Pei, 1992). The coal rank
ranges from lignite-A to high volatile C bituminous
and are generally low ash, high moisture and low sulphur. Palaeogene coals have higher ash and sulphur
contents and lower moisture contents than Neogene
coals due to their different respective environments
of formation in swampy and fluvio-deltaic areas (Van
Leeuwen, 1994).
Hydrocarbon exploration in Southeast Asia is for
the most part restricted to the Tertiary basins and the
pre-Tertiary is mostly considered as economic basement (Hutchison, 1996b), although in the Tanjung
field, hydrocarbons do occur in fractured granitic
325
basement. The Tertiary transgressive sequences filling the extensive basins in Borneo, Sulawesi and
the surrounding seas (Fig. 12) are commonly composed of marginal marine clastics and coals passing
upwards into shallow marine carbonates or deeper
marine clastics (Figs. 4 and 5). In western Sulawesi,
the source for oil and gas with Type-II and -III kerogens has been geochemically traced back to Eocene
coals (Coffield et al., 1993) and to Neogene deltaic
coals and shales in Borneo (Durand et al., 1988;
Schiefelbein et al., 1997). In Borneo, thick Neogene
deltaic sequences comprise major proven reserves
(James, 1984; Du Bois, 1985; Durand et al., 1988;
Courteney, 1995; Sandal, 1996; Graves and Swauger,
1997; Schreurs, 1997), with 2.5 billion barrels of oil
and 28 TCF of gas alone discovered to date in the
Kutai Basin (Paterson et al., 1997). Magmatism and
orogenesis during the late Cenozoic facilitated hydrocarbon generation in western Sulawesi (Coffield
et al., 1993; Wilson et al., 1997). In both areas clastics and carbonates with moderate to high poroperms
comprise the reservoirs. Hydrocarbon traps may be
either stratigraphic, such as carbonate buildups (Epting, 1980; Grainge and Davies, 1983; Ascaria et
al., 1997) or deepwater clastic fans (Malecek et
al., 1993), or structural, as in thrusted anticlines
(Coffield et al., 1993; Paterson et al., 1997).
In Sulawesi, seeps with heavy oils occur on Buton
island and have been sourced from Triassic bituminous marine shales and limestones with Type-II
kerogens (Davidson, 1991). Oil generation has been
related to burial due to thrusting during the late
Miocene (Davidson, 1991). The primary and secondary reservoir units are clastics and carbonates
of the Tondo and Sampolakosa Formations, respectively, and both structural and stratigraphic traps
have been identified (Davidson, 1991). Gas reservoirs have also been discovered in Miocene carbonates in the Tomori area on the East Arm of Sulawesi,
adjacent to the islands of BanggaiSula (Davies,
1990). Tertiary coals or organic rich carbonates may
form the source for the hydrocarbons and similar to
Buton, thrust loading is thought to have resulted in
generation of hydrocarbons (Davies, 1990).
Fig. 12. Simplified geological map of Borneo and Sulawesi, showing Cenozoic sedimentary thicknesses, and peat, coal and hydrocarbon
accumulations (after Hamilton, 1979; Hutchison, 1989; Moss and Chambers, 1999).
326
All the elements of a complete petroleum systems,

consisting of source rock, carrier bed, reservoir, seal,
trap, kitchen areas and charge timing are present in
Borneo and Sulawesi (Van de Weerd and Armin,
1992; Coffield et al., 1993; Wilson et al., 1997).
The actual occurrence of significant hydrocarbons
critically depends on a number of additional factors
including volume of source rock, focus of hydrocarbon charge, diagenesis of carrier beds and reservoir,
seal capacity and timing of migration of hydrocarbons relative to the deposition of seal lithologies and
trap formation.
Construction materials, including granites, gneisses, marbles, serpentinites, limestones, sands and
gravels, occur in Sulawesi and Kalimantan (Sukamto,
1973; Ratman, 1976; Madiadipoera, 1990). These are
utilised locally for road building, producing household items or house foundations. However, construction materials are scarce in eastern Sarawak,
Brunei, Sabah and some areas of eastern Kalimantan. MiocenePliocene microgranodiorites in Tawau
are exported as far as Brunei (C.S. Hutchison, pers.
commun., 1998). East Kalimantan imports most of its
road and building aggregate material from the Palu
region of Sulawesi, because of the lack of igneous
rocks in the developed parts of the province (T.M.
van Leeuwen, pers. comm., 1998). In the South Arm,
the Tonasa-II limestone quarry, one of the largest industries in Sulawesi, produced 1,280,116 metric tons
of cement in 1992, which is exported throughout eastern Indonesia and to adjacent countries (P.T. Semen
Tonasa, 1992). Clay and sand needed in the cement
making process is either quarried locally or shipped
in from eastern Kalimantan. Smaller quarries also occur in South Sulawesi and eastern Kalimantan and the
limestone is used for a variety of purposes, including
decorative facing stone, construction, lime for agricultural use and as a raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. The thick sequence of carbonates from
the Tonasa Formation in Sulawesi is best for these
purposes as it was deposited as an isolated platform
away from clastic input.
327
Mineralisation is commonly associated with igneous intrusions or fractures in Borneo and Sulawesi
(Fig. 13). On both islands minerals such as gold,
diamond and platinum have been reworked and now
often occur as placer deposits. Chromite and nickel
are associated with ultramafic rocks in ophiolite
successions in Sabah, the Meratus Mountains in Borneo and the Southeast and South Arms of Sulawesi
(Van Bemmelen, 1949; Hutchison, 1972, 1996b; Golightly, 1979; Van Leeuwen, 1994). In eastern Sulawesi, the Soroako and Pomalaa mines include considerable reserves of nickel and have been mined
since the 1970s (Van Leeuwen, 1994). Minerals associated with volcanic or intrusive rocks in Sulawesi
and Kalimantan include gold, silver, copper, tourmaline and molybdenum (Sukamto, 1973; Ratman,
1976; Carlile et al., 1990; Kavalieris et al., 1990,
1992; Van Leeuwen et al., 1990, 1994). The North
Arm of Sulawesi is a major area of mineralisation
associated with igneous activity and the nature of the
mineralisation is varied. Styles of mineralisation include igneous dome-related (Kavalieris et al., 1992),
mineralised breccia zones (Lubis et al., 1994), as
porphyry CuAu and epithermal CuAuAg mineralisation often associated with diatremes (Perello,
1994) or associated with long-lived volcanic centres (Carlile et al., 1990; Kavalieris et al., 1992). In
the Ratatokok area gold occurs as sediment-hosted
in karstic infills in the Ratatokok limestone, along
permeable zones at limestoneandesite contacts, as
vein fills and eluvial gold deposits related to residual
quartz-clay breccias (Turner et al., 1994). Lead bearing gossans, associated with the West Walanae Fault
Zone in South Sulawesi were investigated by PT Rio
Tinto, but found to be non-economic (Van Leeuwen,
1981). More significant, albeit still small, base metal
occurrences are at Riam Kusik and Long Laai in
Borneo and Sangkaropi in Sulawesi (Van Leeuwen,
1994). In Kalimantan, epithermal gold mineralisation is common and includes the largest gold mine in
Indonesia at Kelian located within the Kutai Basin.
Several of the mineralisation sites in Kalimantan
Fig. 13. Simplified geological map of Borneo and Sulawesi highlighting areas of pre-Tertiary basement, ophiolitic successions, igneous
lithologies and structures. Mineral occurrences and areas of volcanic activity and geothermal prospects are also shown (after Clarke,
1989; Van Leeuwen, 1994; Carlile and Mitchell, 1994; Hutchison, 1996b). Major and minor occurrences of minerals have not been
differentiated, for this the reader is referred to the aforementioned references.
328
appear to be located upon linear NESW-structures

and often occur where these are intersected by NW
SE-trending structures. The mineralisation in Borneo is also commonly associated with volcanic and
intrusive rocks of uppermost Oligocene to middle
Miocene Sintang intrusives (Van Leeuwen et al.,
1990; Felderhof et al., 1996). Gold and other minerals such as antimony have also been produced
economically from placer deposits and eluvial or
residual deposits associated with carbonates in Borneo, particularly the Bau district (Wilford, 1955;
Hutchison, 1996b). Diamonds have also been found
as placer deposits in western and southern Kalimantan and Sarawak, although the original source of the
diamonds has never been traced (Sikumbang, 1986;
Bergman et al., 1987; Hutchison, 1996b).
Hot springs are commonly reported in western
Sulawesi, particularly from the North Arm, associated with areas of recent or active volcanic activity,
or from along faults, such as those along the margins
of the Palu Depression (Sukamto, 1973; Boedihardi
et al., 1992). The Lahendong Geothermal Field is
located close to Menado in the centre of a small
crater which formed during the Pliocene (Surachman et al., 1987). Two water reservoirs have been
identified at depths of 400900 m and 1500 m with
respective acidic water temperatures of 260C and
300350C and development of a 55 MW power
plant was proposed for this area (Surachman et al.,
1987). Geothermal prospecting has been undertaken
in an area where hot springs, seepages, mud pools
and steaming ground occur on the Semporna Peninsula in Sabah. These features are related to major
fracture systems and are associated with Quaternary
dacites, tuffs and agglomerates (Siong et al., 1991).
As an aid to future exploration for natural resources the palaeogeographic maps can be used in a
number of different ways, although it is stressed that
palaeogeographic information must be used in combination with the full range of geological data. In the
hydrocarbon industry comparing different palaeogeographic maps can help to identify temporal and
spatial changes in source rock, reservoir and sealing
lithologies within a basin. Since these are integral
parts of any petroleum system, palaeogeographic reconstructions are routinely used in play and prospect
scales of investigation. Palaeogeographic data can
be used to infer the nature of certain rock types;
for example Paleogene and Neogene coals in Borneo have very different characteristics due to their
fluviatile=marginal marine and deltaic settings respectively. Another example of this is where very
pure carbonates are needed for cement production or
in the pharmaceutical industry. Isolated carbonates
platforms, which developed distally from any clastic
or volcaniclastic input such as the Tonasa Formation
in South Sulawesi, as identified on palaeogeographic
maps, are most likely to have fewest impurities. In
situ mineral occurrences are commonly associated
with certain rocks types, often igneous lithologies in
Borneo and Sulawesi, and=or structures active during particular time periods. Combined plate tectonic
and palaeogeographic maps are useful for deducing
the timing of emplacement or extrusion of igneous
material and variations in stress regimes through
time, hence giving valuable information on the likely
timing of structures.
6. Biogeographic implications
Borneo and Sulawesi occur on either sides of
Wallaces original faunal divide and are of prime
importance to biogeographers. In general, the organisms of Borneo show similarities with those of Asia
and other islands on the Sunda Shelf, whereas on
Sulawesi there is a particularly high degree of endemism, with the biota showing both an Asiatic and
Australian influence (reviewed in: Whitmore, 1981,
1987; Whitten et al., 1987; and MacKinnon et al.,
1996). Both Borneo and Sulawesi contain a variety
of habitats, including high, mountainous areas, lower
rolling topography and flat coastal plains. A complex
interplay of factors, including physical differences in
environment (such as altitude, soil type and slope
all influenced by local geology), local and regional
variations in climate as well as regional geological
evolution of the area, will all influence the nature and
diversity of organisms found on these islands. Today
the region has a tropical climate, although some areas of Sulawesi may experience long dry periods and
a more monsoonal climate than areas in Borneo.
Important elements of the palaeogeographic reconstructions for biogeographers to consider are the
temporal and spatial extent of land areas and island
chains, the timing and nature of material accreted
onto the margin of the Sundaland craton and the

distribution of different environments through time
and space. The main palaeogeographic changes in
the region of Borneo and Sulawesi and their implications for biogeography are briefly outlined below
and discussed in detail in Moss and Wilson (1998):
A continuous land connection between Borneo
and mainland Southeast Asia existed throughout
much of the Tertiary and would have allowed the
unhindered migration of terrestrial biota.
Western Sulawesi had been accreted onto eastern Borneo by the Late Cretaceous and by the
Early Eocene land areas were emergent in the
Schwaner Mountains, northwestern Kalimantan,
the Mangkalihat Peninsula and parts of western
Sulawesi. The dispersal of certain flora and fauna
between Borneo and western Sulawesi could have
occurred at this time.
Extension in the Makassar Straits region and the
formation of surrounding Tertiary basinal areas in
the Paleogene resulted in the progressive separation of locally emergent land or volcanic areas
in western Sulawesi and Borneo and this isolation goes some way towards explaining the high
degree of endemism on Sulawesi.
The East Sulawesi Ophiolite was accreted onto
Sulawesi during or after the late Oligocene and
resulted in the formation of more extensive land
areas in Sulawesi. Since the ophiolitic suite originally formed as part of the oceanic crust in a
deep marine setting, it would not have acted as a
potential raft for biota.
Microcontinental fragments accreted onto eastern
Sulawesi in the Miocene to Pleistocene may have
been emergent as they drifted towards Sulawesi
and comprised island hopping=rafting routes for
biota of Australian affinity.
Island hopping routes for the dispersal of organisms to and from Borneo and Sulawesi and the
Philippines may have existed along volcanic arcs,
such as the long-lived arc along the North Arm of
Sulawesi and the Cagayan and Sangihe arcs, and
later along the younger Sulu arc.
The uplift and subsequent erosion of Borneo from
the late Oligocene to the present day and the
emergence of more extensive land areas in Sulawesi led to the progressive reduction in width
of the Makassar Straits. This may have facilitated
329
the interchange of biota during the later part of

the Tertiary, particularly during periods of relative
sea level lows when large areas of shallow marine
shelves may have become emergent.
Although Borneo and western Sulawesi remained
in near tropical latitudes throughout the Tertiary,
the wide variety of micro-environments shown
on the palaeogeographic maps would have led
to niche partitioning. This may help to explain
the higher number of endemic species in Borneo
compared with Sumatra, which otherwise does
show a marked similarity in fauna and flora with
Borneo.
7. Plate tectonic reconstructions and further

work
Although much of the tectonic evolution of Borneo and Sulawesi during the Cenozoic can be inferred (above), the complex tectonic setting, inaccessibility, and lack of detailed geological work in
some areas may result in inaccurate, conflicting or
confusing interpretations. During the compilation of
geological and tectonic information in order to construct the palaeogeographic maps it became clear
that a number of key points concerning the geology
of Borneo and Sulawesi need to be resolved and
require further study. These include:
Whether Borneo and Sulawesi have rotated, and
if so which fragments and the direction, magnitude, timing and causes of rotation. There is still
considerable controversy over the interpretations
of palaeomagnetic results, as to which palaeomagnetic results are meaningful and which represent local or regional rotations. Variable amounts
of counterclockwise rotation or no rotation have
variously been inferred for Borneo and South Sulawesi for the Tertiary (above). Different timing
and amounts of rotation are of critical importance
for plate tectonic reconstructions of the region
because they would affect the evolution and accretion of material forming eastern Sulawesi and
the nature of the change between northern mainland Borneo and the South China Sea.
The nature, origin and evolution of the Tertiary
basins and gulfs in and around Borneo and Sulawesi: notably the Tertiary basins which now
330
occur onshore, the Sabah and Sarawak Basins, the

Makassar Straits, the Bone, Gorontalo and Tomori
gulfs or bays. Although widespread basin initiation occurred around the margins of the Sundaland craton in the Palaeogene, the mechanics and
reasons for basin formations and detailed basin
architectures are still unclear. Depositional environments varied considerably within and around
the margins of these basins, and there is still much
work to be undertaken on detailed Tertiary facies
variations.
Further information is required concerning the
nature of microcontinental and oceanic fragments
and their original affinities and processes of accretion onto the eastern margin of the Sundaland
craton. The direction, nature and precise timing
of collision=emplacement of the microcontinental
and ophiolitic fragments accreted onto western
Sulawesi in many cases is still unclear.
One of the largest ophiolite complexes in the
world is located in Sulawesi and the nature, timing and origin of this area is of importance both
in terms of regional plate tectonics and in understanding ophiolite evolution. It is unclear whether
the ophiolitic sequences in Sulawesi can be regarded as one ophiolite sequence, or as a number
of accreted ophiolitic slices, possibly of differing
ages. The area of generation of these ophiolitic
sequences is still unclear, with origins suggested
as part of a larger back-arc basin including the
Celebes Sea, or origination close to a spreading
centre in a small back-arc basin.
The nature, origin and evolution of the basement
lithologies in western Sulawesi and Borneo. Do
the metamorphic and ultramafic basement lithologies represent a number of accreted microcontinental and oceanic fragments, and if so what is
the origin and evolution of these different areas?
Does the nature of the basement lithologies exert a strong control on the subsequent Tertiary
evolution and sedimentation of the region.
Further work on the timing, nature and provenance of the igneous lithologies in western Sulawesi and Borneo, particularly the cause of this
magmatism and how igneous activity relates to
plate tectonics.
The nature of the basement in the North Arm of
Sulawesi is still highly contentious. It is not clear
whether the North Arm of Sulawesi is floored on

ophiolitic, volcanic arc or continental basement.
If the basement of the North Arm of Sulawesi
is ophiolitic, can this area be regarded as part of
a larger ophiolitic formed in a back-arc setting,
which might include the Celebes Sea and the East
Sulawesi Ophiolite?
The history of uplift in Sulawesi and Borneo and
how this relates to regional plate tectonic events.
Changes in palaeoenvironment through time are
very difficult to evaluate for regions with no or a
very thin Cenozoic cover, such as the Sunda Shelf.
Although these areas were probably land areas for
much of the Cenozoic, sediments deposited during marine incursions may have been removed by
later erosion. Further provenance work on clastic
sediments and their source lithologies would yield
information on transport routes and distances and
thereby give clues to the timing of formation and
areal extent of mountain areas.
More information on any of the areas discussed
above could then be used to further constrain current
plate tectonic models of the region and refine palaeogeographic interpretations. Additional work on the
temporal and spatial distributions of inferred environments or juxtaposition of certain rock types or
structures compared with known economic discoveries or present day distributions of biota could aid
future exploration or biogeographic studies. Establishing a GIS database, including palaeogeographic
data, plate tectonic information, details of biotic
distribution and relationships and economic occurrences, capable of being interrogated and displaying
trends would be an extremely useful tool in future
analysis.
8. Conclusions
The evolution of Borneo and Sulawesi during
the Cenozoic has implications for the plate tectonic
processes involved in the accretion of microcontinenal and oceanic material and to the development
of volcanic arcs along convergent cratonic margins.
The maps in this paper are the first attempt to plot
detailed palaeogeographic information onto plate reconstructions of these islands. Undertaking such a
task helps to highlight discrepancies between plate
tectonic reconstructions and environmental data, and

can be used to further constrain plate tectonic models
and to highlight areas for further study.
These islands, as well as being a remarkable natural workshop to study plate tectonic processes, are
also of prime importance to biogeographers and areas of proven accumulations and frontier exploration
for natural resources. An increased knowledge of
variations in the deposition and=or formation of certain rock types related to plate tectonic changes and
palaeogeographic differences may prove critical in
the future exploration for natural resources, such as
coals, hydrocarbons, minerals and building materials. Important elements of the palaeogeographic reconstructions for biogeographers to consider are the
temporal and spatial extent of land areas and island
chains, the timing and nature of material accreted
onto the margin of the Sundaland craton and the
distribution of different environments through time
and space. Plate tectonics and the resultant variations
in temporal and spatial distributions of environments
in Borneo and Sulawesi were therefore extremely
important factors influencing biogeography and the
accumulation of natural resources.
Acknowledgements
Discussions with Tony Barber, Stephen Calvert,
John Chambers, Ian Cloke, George Grabowski,
Robert Hall, Jon Noad and Chris Parkinson are
gratefully acknowledged. Robert Hall is particularly
thanked for allowing us to use the plate tectonic
reconstructions. S.J.M.s and M.E.J.W.s post-doctorates with the University of London SE Asia Research Group are=were funded by a consortium of
oil companies, ARCO Indonesia, LASMO Indonesia
Ltd, MOBIL Oil Indonesia, EXXON Inc, Canadian
Petroleum Indonesia, Union Texas Petroleum and
Unocal who are all gratefully acknowledged. Additional funding for fieldwork and=or technical support
was provided by British Petroleum, Maersk Oil,
LASMO Runtu and Unocal and these companies are
also thanked. Drs. Irwan Bahar, Rab Sukamto and
Kustomo Hasan of GRDC, Bandung are gratefully
acknowledged for their help and encouragement with
our research projects. Dharma Satria Nas, Alexander
Limbong and the people of Sulawesi and Kalimantan
331
are thanked for their invaluable help and friendship

in the field. The constructive comments of the reviewers Charles Hutchison and particularly Theo
van Leeuwen helped to improve the manuscript.
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ELSEVIER

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 145 (1999) 303337

author. Tel.: C44-17844-43592; Fax: C4417844-34716; E-mail: moyra@gl.rhbnc.ac.uk

c 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

2. Data sources, quality and methodology

the region imply major strike-slip faulting following

et al., 1990; Fuller et al., 1991, 1999; Sunyata and

3. Geology and tectonics of Borneo and Sulawesi

granites which intrude deformed basic and ultrabasic

pretations of the available data, the evolution and

gies of continental origin are exposed or are

4.1. Eocene (Figs. 6 and 7)

Cretaceous dates from schists in the basement

line (Priadi et al., 1994), and are associated with

sula (Sunaryo et al., 1988) and the in the Muller

volcaniclastic sediments is recorded in west-central

1992; Tanean et al., 1996; Moss et al., 1997). This is

4.3. Miocene (Figs. 9 and 10)

deposition in Sarawak (Epting, 1980; Doust, 1981;

Hutchison, 1996a; Tanean et al., 1996; Moss et al.,

arc activity occurred along the Cagayan and Sulu

(Polve et al., 1997). Shallow marine carbonates are

thor. On Buton, obduction of ophiolitic material

(Garrard et al., 1988; Davies, 1990). These may have

involved large quantities of sediment. The Rajang

and subsidence in other areas. The evolution of the

All the elements of a complete petroleum systems,

appear to be located upon linear NESW-structures

onto the margin of the Sundaland craton and the

the interchange of biota during the later part of

7. Plate tectonic reconstructions and further

occur onshore, the Sabah and Sarawak Basins, the

whether the North Arm of Sulawesi is floored on

tectonic reconstructions and environmental data, and

are thanked for their invaluable help and friendship

Ben-Avraham, Z., Emery, K.O., 1973. Structural framework of

and motion history of the Philippine Sea Plate. Tectonophysics

western part of North Borneo. Bull. Geol. Surv. Dep. Br.

Palaeomagnetism of the Balantak ophiolite, Sulawesi. Earth

Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of Sundaland. Tectonics 9

of the northwestern part of the Kutei Basin, Kalimantan,

soc. Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australasia Conf., pp.

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