INDONESIA: TECTONICS AND RESOURCES

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Indonesia and Malaysia: The Malay Archipelago

INDONESIA
Tectonics and Resources

Borneo

Robert Hall

5000 km
2

Subduction

Areas of very significant active deformation

Driving force
Possibly some unfamiliar ideas
Slab rollback
Hinge rollback
Trench retreat

Robert Hall, 2016

INDONESIA: TECTONICS AND RESOURCES

Plate boundaries marked by seismicity and arc magmatism

with apparently stable interior

Yogyakarta 2016

Banda: N-S section

Wim Spakman

But in this convergent setting

deformation is not simply
contraction
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Banda: E-W section

Subduction
Conventional view
Two plates converging
and one slab being
pushed into mantle

Wim Spakman

Robert Hall, 2016

Arc and trench

remain fixed

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Hall, 2002, 2012

Rollback
One slab falls into
mantle

In the last 55
million
years a lot
has been
subducted

No plate convergence
required to
maintain subduction
Arc and trench move

Virtually all areas

shown in dark
blue without
anomalies have
disappeared since
55 Ma
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10

Result: Composite region of continental blocks

Reconstruction 160-0 Ma

Run Quicktime movie: very rapidly

Hall, 2012, Tectonophysics, 570-571, 1-41
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Robert Hall, 2016

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Sundaland and Australia

Subduction zones in the mantle

MANTLE
STRUCTURE

TOMOGRAPHY

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Sundaland in the west

Australia in the east
These regions began to collide in the Early
Miocene
Their pre-collision character is critical in
understanding what happened during the
Cenozoic, especially the Neogene
How collision proceeded is an exciting and
challenging topic of research

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Changing views: Sundaland

Much of Sundaland is close to sea level

Hence, widely considered a stable region

Traditionally seen as ancient strong region

Around ancient basement core is much younger
accreted crust

Hanebuth et al. (2000)

These views require reconsideration

Hall & Morley, 2004

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Robert Hall, 2016

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Western Indonesia: Sundaland

At present, Western Indonesia is a relatively stable region

Complex basement structure not Sunda

shield or craton
Hot, weak lithosphere responsive to plate
boundary forces

But eastern Indonesia is a wide deforming plate boundary complex

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Composite - most growth by assembly of continental blocks

SE Asia is NOT a craton or shield

Some very old (Archaean) material

Probably <10% due to addition by
magmatism/ophiolites

Low Vs

High Vs

150 km

Ritsema & van Heijst,

2000

Cratons easily identified in mantle

SE Asia: Lower than average V at shallow depths in mantle
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Robert Hall, 2016

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Much of region has high heatflow

High heatflow led to weak and wide backarc region

CRATON
AVERAGE

SE Asia Heatflow (Hall & Morley, 2004)

Based on Pollack et al. (1993) NGDC dataset, IPA/SEAPEX data [Kenyon & Beddoes, 1977;
Rutherford and Qureshi, 1981], and estimate for active volcanoes
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Modified from Hyndman et al., 2005

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The whole East Asian and SE Asian region is largely weak, internally
heterogeneous, with local areas of strong crust

Hyndman et al., 2005

STRONG
Australian fragments
Cenozoic ocean crust

Weakness of thin
lithosphere has
influenced
deformation during
collision and
extension

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Robert Hall, 2016

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Australian pre-collision margin

New Guinea active margin until end Triassic

Rifting of blocks in Late Jurassic
Sula Spur and Banda Embayment
Passive margin: Mesozoic and Paleogene
Early Miocene: collision

Birds Head
Clastic Sedimentary Rocks

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East Indonesia: Microcontinental fragments

Some have argued that

Birds Head is exotic and
originated in east

Pigram et al., 1984

Robert Hall, 2016

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Triassic Tipuma Formation

Volcanic Quartz

Previously thought to have been deposited in a continental (possibly rift) setting

Gunawan (2012) found important volcanic component
Widespread PermoTriassic volcanic activity associated with Andean-type active margin
Deposited in fluvial setting close to volcanic arc

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Zircon Geochronology

Shard shapes

Cracked-tile pattern fracture

Melt embayment

Hexagonal grain with fluid inclusions

Palaeozoic to Triassic active margin

Tasman line turned west
and continues to the
Birds Head
Andean-type subduction
of palaeo-Pacific oceanic
crust under the
Australian continent

Key :
BH Birds Head
BE Banda Embayment
COB Continent-Ocean Boundary
EP Exmouth Plateau
EJ-WS East Java-West Sulawesi
ScP Scott Plateau
SP Sula Platform
SWB SW Borneo

Phanerozoic: Major PermoTriassic age populations

Minor Carboniferous
Precambrian: Neoproterozoic, Early Mesoproterozoic, and Paleoproterozoic
age populations, with a few Archaean grains (2.83.2 Ga)
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Robert Hall, 2016

Gunawan et al., 2013

Gunawan et al., 2012

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Zircon Geochronology

Zimmermann and Hall, 2016

Laser ablation U-Pb dating of detrital zircons

Probability Histogram:

Phanerozoic

Precambrian

Triassic

Triassic and Jurassic sandstones of Outer Banda Arc have

essentially been part of Australian margin since their deposition

~2540 detrital zircon ages

(Triassic ~1755, Jurassic ~785)
63-250 m

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Triassic

Zimmermann
and Hall, 2016

The Birds Head

Permo-Triassic
volcanic component
can be recognized all
along the Banda Arc,
gradually reducing in
importance to the
west
Zimmermann, 2015
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Robert Hall, 2016

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End Triassic

MIDDLE TO LATE TRIASSIC

We can now rule out the

exotic Birds Head
hypothesis,
and recognise important
sources in Birds Head
and Australian continent
Struckmeyer et al. (1993)

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Java Basement

East Java underlain by old continental crust

Many samples of igneous rocks from the Southern
Mountains contain Archaean zircons

Late Jurassic rifting of SW Borneo and E Java-W Sulawesi

Collisions terminated subduction in mid-Cretaceous
Left behind the Banda Embayment
and continental promontory (Sula Spur)
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Robert Hall, 2016

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Java: Age of Basement

Hamilton, 1979

80-45 Ma

Paleogene acid volcanic

products have been
overlooked but are
widespread
Smyth et al., 2007
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Possible Mesozoic or
older section from
offshore SE Java

Smyth et al., 2007

Java

Java

Different from Borneo

But good match to Western

Australia

Nugraha, 2011

van Hattum et al., 2006

North
Borneo
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Robert Hall, 2016

Australia

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Offshore SE Borneo

SW Borneo core

Emmet et al., 2009

JavaSPAN deep seismic profiles

0 sec

TWT

Previously considered oldest part of Borneo

Zircon ages have surprised us
No ancient metamorphic basement
Jurassic granites rifting
Schwaner arc granites mainly Cretaceous

20 sec
Cenozoic
section

At least 8 seconds of
sediment below
Cenozoic
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Zircon Ages

Borneo basement
Schwaner granites and Pinoh Metamorphics

Pinoh Metamorphics

Pinoh Metamorphics expected to be Palaeozoic or older:

but all contain Cretaceous zircons, interpreted as detrital
and volcanic origin

Jurassic
Granite

Schwaner granites

Schwaner granites predominantly Cretaceous, as expected ,

with a few Jurassic granites
Very rare older zircons (Palaeozoic, Proterozoic)

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Robert Hall, 2016

Davies, 2013

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Davies, 2013; Davies et al., 2014

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Sarawak Basement: Much younger than expected

Reconstruction 160-40 Ma

Breitfeld, 2015

Cretaceous metamorphic rocks

Triassic metamorphic rocks

Summarised in 5 Ma steps
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Metamorphic rocks: previously

thought to be Carboniferous or older

Hall, 2012, Tectonophysics, 570-571, 1-41

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Triassic-mid Cretaceous accretionary margin

Hall, 2012

Late Jurassic:
rifting

Cretaceous:
collisions

A wide accretionary
zone at the East
Asian Margin,
including continental
fragments, ophiolitic
material,
metamorphic rocks

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Robert Hall, 2016

modified from Hall, 2012

Cretaceous-Eocene:
subduction ceased

Eocene:
subduction resumed

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Changing views 2: East Indonesia

Eastern Indonesia: Collision Zone

Traditionally seen as region dominated by

collision
Long history of argument about:

Where fragments came from, and how they were

dispersed
Significance of tectonic features such as troughs
Sources of sediments
Age, significance and causes of offshore fold and
thrust belts

New interpretations
The importance of extension

There have been many surprises

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East Indonesia

Region has always been interpreted in terms of convergence and

collisions

Includes young subduction zones, many offshore

fold and thrust belts, typically next to elevated
regions which include deep crustal rocks and
young granites
New ideas are developing about the way the
region is deforming as AustraliaSE Asia collision
proceeds
Illustrated by Banda and Sulawesi regions

Engdahl et al. 1998

But in this convergent setting

deformation is not simply
contraction
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Robert Hall, 2016

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Conventional view: collision of microcontinent(s)

In Sulawesi traditional view is collision of microcontinental blocks

(sliced from east) with West Sulawesi plutonic-arc complex

Vigny et al. (2003)

Silver & Smith, 1991

Davidson, 1990

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SULAWESI to BANDA

One example of a very small fragment that is considered the cause

of much damage !!

Changing ideas concerning importance of collision and

extension as dominant process
Dramatic vertical motions in the Pliocene
Rapid rates of change

Banggai-Sula

Garrard et al., 1988

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Robert Hall, 2016

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SULAWESI

Sulawesi has traditionally been interpreted as the product of

collisions

Sulawesi imaged
with SRTM/ASTER,
Multibeam
bathymetry, and
2D seismic

On land
mapping and dating

Parkinson (1991)
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Fragments now seen as dispersed by Neogene extension, not

multiple collisions

Socquet et al. (2006)

GPS data usually interpreted in

terms of collision

Area potentially underlain

by continental crust of
former Sula Spur

Watkinson et al. (2010)

New data cast

doubt on many
faults
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Robert Hall, 2016

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Young deep basins separate the arms of Sulawesi

High (up to 3 km) mountains form the arms of Sulawesi

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Inter-arm bays: Deep basins between high mountains

Supplied by huge sediment yields due to high rainfall,

from short mountainous rivers

North Arm

>2 km
>2 km
Gorontalo Bay

-2km
Neck

>1 km

East Arm

3 km
3 km

Area c. 400 x
400 km
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Robert Hall, 2016

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Slab depth contours

Record of subsidence offshore

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TWT: volcanic/sedimentary basin

Tilamuta Basin

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Robert Hall, 2016

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Slab depth contours

North Sulawesi

TWT: volcanic/sedimentary basin

North Sulawesi Trench

Magmatic
rocks

Principal Structures

North Sulawesi Trench

Subsided
carbonates

Magmatic
rocks
Low grade metabasites
Subsided
carbonates

Core
complex

Low grade
metabasites

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Synchronous uplift and subsidence

Core
complex

South of North
Arm

Pholbud et al., 2012

Pliocene reefs now at

water depths between
1 and 2 km

TWT
secs

3
Subsided
carbonates
4

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Robert Hall, 2016

Gorontalo Bay
Pinnacle reefs up to 2 km depth,
above shallow water carbonates

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Offshore expression of extension

Offshore and onshore reefs

subsidence
carbonate sediments

Gorontalo Bay
Pinnacle reefs up to 2 km depth

subsidence
clastic
sediments

Images below are 40x40 km

Reef top to base is
Buton 300 m
Wangiwangi 100m
East Arm 200m

Wangiwangi SRTM

Pinnacle reefs now at water depths up to 2 km

East Arm 1000 m depth

Buton
SRTM

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Pliocene: major clastic sediment input to Poso Basin, but subsidence still exceeds supply
Rapid subsidence to 2 km depth of Tomini Bay

Pliocene core complexes

Probably 2 episodes of melting
at c. 7 Ma and c. 3 Ma
Arca et al., 2010

Ar-Ar cooling ages of micas in

granites of
6-7 Ma and c. 3 Ma
and young rapid exhumation
(U-Th)/He dating of apatites
yields c. 3 Ma ages

GPS vectors from Socquet et al., 2006

Hennig et al. (2012)

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North Arm

Trench and North Arm

Many slumps close to

Celebes Sea floor
Trench has little expression

Una-Una
volcano

Togian Islands

Phlogopite-dacite intrusive c. 2 Ma

North Sulawesi Trench

Late Neogene magmatism and

metamorphism in North Arm
Mainly c.9-8 Ma and 5-3 Ma

Magmatic
rocks

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Plio-Pleistocene reworked ash deposits

Young granite magmatism and rapidly elevated (> 3km high) areas
onshore in West Sulawesi

Subsidence offshore, uplift on land

North Arm

>2 km
>2 km

Una-Una

-2km
Neck

>1 km

East Arm

3 km
3 km

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Area c. 400 x 400 km

Robert Hall, 2016

Core
Complex

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Hennig
2015

Overlain by sediments about 1 Ma younger

West Sulawesi granites and metamorphic rocks: c.3 Ma ages

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Present-day
1 Ma

0 Ma

Celebes Sea

4 Ma

Celebes Sea

Now subducted

Palaeogeography
Improved
understanding of
distribution of land
and sea

8 Ma reconstruction

2 Ma

5 Ma

Inferred position where

subduction began
Nugraha & Hall, 2016
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Robert Hall, 2016

3 Ma

6 Ma

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Faults on land simplified

from Watkinson, 2013

Tolo Trough a trench begins

Matano &
Towuti
Lakes
5800m

North Banda
Sea
Average depth c. 4800m
12-7 Ma

6400m

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NB: All West Pacific marginal

basins deeper or much deeper
than age-depth curves predict

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Rudyawan & Hall, 2012

Major detachment at 2 sec TWT

below seabed

The mystery of subduction initiation

How subduction develops,

inferred from observations
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Pre-subduction to initiation
Corner in ocean-continent margin
Weak, usually hot, crust

Subduction initiation
Ocean crust loaded and depressed by extension of upper plate
Melting further weakens crust, deep crust thinned
Eclogite forms when ocean crust sufficiently deep

Initiation at point, topographically

higher crust loads oceanic crust

Eclogite
formation

Map
view
N Sulawesi
8 Ma

N Sulawesi
c. 4 Ma

Low angle detachment

Cross
section

Eclogite

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True subduction: rollback starts

Rollbac
k

Melting

Deep mantle inflow

This is very
close to what is
observed

Slab can now sink under its own weight

Subduction zone grows laterally along COB
Continued extension during rollback may exhume upper mantle

N Sulawesi
c. 3 Ma

Core
complex

N Sulawesi
Present
Core
complex

Deep mantle inflow

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West Sulawesi active fold and thrust belt

Celebes
Sea

West Sulawesi offshore fold and thrust belt: gravity-driven

Gorontalo
Bay

Palu-Koro
Fault
Mangkalihat
Peninsula

Palu-Koro
Strike-slip fault
Mountains of West
Sulawesi c. 3 km high

Northern
Province
Makassar Straits undeformed
zone almost 2500m deep

Southern
Province

Mahakam
Delta

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Mio-Pliocene deformation: Sulawesi

The Banda Arc

Intimate link between uplift on land and

subsidence offshore
Complex deformation dominated by extension
Weak and hot crust/mantle
Very mobile crust
Upper and lower crust potentially completely
decoupled
Deformation response to

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Robert Hall, 2016

Topography
Subduction initiation and rollback
Lithosphere delamination?
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Benioff zone contours curve round through 180

SERAM

Banda Api

Flat section at base of

upper mantle

TIMOR

Volcanic arc very young

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Banda Rollback

Northern margin of embayment became aligned

with Java trench c. 15 Ma
Trench propagated east by tearing along
northern embayment COB
Slab fell away into mantle
Subduction zone rolled back to east, unrelated to
AustralianSE Asia plate convergence vector

Spakman and Hall, 2010

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104

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Lithosphere tore along northern margin of Banda Sea during rollback

Geometry of slab based on

seismic tomography (Spakman & Hall, 2010)
earthquake hypocenters (Das, 2004)
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Pownall et al., 2013, 2014

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Tectonic reconstruction
Sula Spur collides with Sulawesi arc c.23 Ma
Rollback into Banda embayment from c.15 Ma
Arccontinent collision from c.4 Ma

SERAM:
Extension NOT Collision

ATLAS Reconstruction, Cambridge Paleomap

Spakman & Hall, 2010

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Seram has been interpreted to result from thrusting following Late

Miocene arc-continent collision

SERAM
Peridotites, granites, UHT metamorphism, ambonites

No ophiolites, exposed mantle, UHT rocks, very

fast exhumation products of extension

Audley-Charles et al., 1979

OSullivan et al. 1985; Honthaas et al. 1999

Pownall et al., 2013, 2014

Hill, 2005
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Intrusive contacts between peridotites and granites

Results of careful field mapping in west

and central Seram (Jon Pownall)

Pownall et al. (2013)

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Peridotites below
granites, not above

Yogyakarta 2016

Gravity high
(Milsom et al., 2001)

Gt-Crd-Pl-Sill-Sp (-Ilm-Qu-Cor) Granulite

Granulite

Cordierite granite

Ambonite

Pownall et al. (2012)

Gt

Linthout et al., 1996

Crd
Sp+Sill
xenoliths

HT to UHT conditions recorded

Pownall, 2012
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Pownall et al. (2012)

Crd Granite SHRIMP U-Pb zircon

geochronology

Pownall et al. (2012)

SE10-178

5.82 0.34 Ma

Ar-Ar (Bt)
5.94 0.02 Ma

KB11-336

5.47 0.14 Ma

Ar-Ar (Bt)
5.41 0.48 Ma
(Linthout et al., 1996)

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Micaschist

Yogyakarta 2016

Lower crust and mantle exhumed in last few

million years

4.38 0.03 Ma

Pownall et al. 2013, 2014

Micaschist
3.35 0.05 Ma

1.90 Ma

Delamination with inflow of

hot mantle melts,
metamorphoses deep crust
accompanying dramatic
crustal thinning during
extension

Pownall et al. (2013)

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Subduction rollback-driven extension

Subduction rollback-driven extension

Extension exhumes deep crust

After/during extension, intrusion of granite melts

Low angle
detachment

Rollback

Rollback

Melting

Deep mantle
inflow
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Subduction rollback-driven extension

Core complex

Continued extension exhumes

deep crust and mantle
Low angle
detachment

Rollback
Pownall et al., 2014

Melting

Deep mantle
inflow
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East Indonesian
multibeam
bathymetry
Seram Trough:
termination
to SE

Seram Trough: offshore fold and thrust belt, but very young (< 2 my)

SERAM FOLD
& THRUST
BELT
KAI
ARCH

ARU
TROUGH
WEBER
DEEP

TANIMBAR
TROUGH

Teas et al. 2009

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Seram Trough
FTB thrust front

VERY YOUNG
Tarera-Aiduna Fault

Kai Arch

Australian-origin crust in
Banda forearc

Aru Trough

Tanimbar Trough

Late Miocene or older

extensional faults bound
Aru and Tanimbar Troughs

Bowin et al. (1980) first commented

on anomaly of Australian crust north
of the supposed subduction trench

Ayu Trough and Tanimbar Trough

formed c.10 Ma
by extension within Australian margin
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1
Final dramatic phase of
rollback formed
7 km Weber Deep

Weber Deep, looking north

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128

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Weber Deep
Seram Fold and Thrust Belt
Along-strike equivalents

Kur

Kai Kecil

Kai Besar

Seram
Trough

2 sec TWT

Weber Deep
9 sec TWT

5 km

30 km

c. 250 km
The largest normal fault on Earth ? Approximately 10 slope
Pownall et al., 2016

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Seismic tomography: Banda E-W section

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Banda Arc: Interpreted E-W section

Spakman and Hall, 2010

Hall and Spakman, 2015

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Geological summary

Sundaland not a craton

Weak area, deformed in response to plate
boundary forces
Very rapid and very young basin formation in
eastern Indonesia
Extreme extension closely linked to subduction
Contemporaneous uplift on land
Hydrocarbons but risky frontier region !!
Models developed in other regions suggest
parallels but important differences
SE Asia is different, needs new thinking

Yogyakarta 2016

Conclusions

We have seen today how old ideas are being challenged

by new data
New ideas are needed, based on observations
You are fortunate to live in such an exciting region
There is a great deal to do, and much to discover
This is your future and your opportunity

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http://searg.rhul.ac.uk/

Robert Hall, 2016

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