You are on page 1of 31

Sundaland Basins

Robert Hall
SE Asia Research Group, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, U.K.

Christopher K. Morley
Department of Petroleum Geoscience, Universiti of Brunei Darussalam, Tunku Link, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam

The continental core of Sundaland, comprising Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the ThaiMalay Peninsula and Indochina, was assembled during the Triassic Indosinian orogeny, and formed an exposed landmass during Pleistocene lowstands. Because the region includes extensive shallow seas, and is not significantly elevated, it is often assumed to have been stable for a long period. This stability is a myth. The region is today surrounded by subduction and collision zones, and merges with the IndiaAsia collision zone. Cenozoic deformation of Sundaland is recorded in the numerous deep sedimentary basins alongside elevated highlands. Some sediment may have been supplied from Asia following Indian collision but most was locally derived. Modern and Late Cenozoic sediment yields are exceptionally high despite a relatively small land area. IndiaAsia collision, AustraliaSE Asia collision, backarc extension, subduction rollback, strike-slip faulting, mantle plume activity, and differential crust-lithosphere stretching have been proposed as possible basinforming mechanisms. In scale, crustal character, heat flow and mantle character the region resembles the Basin and Range province or the East African Rift, but is quite unlike them in tectonic setting. Conventional basin modeling fails to predict heat flow, elevation, basin depths and subsidence history of Sundaland and overestimates stretching factors. These can be explained by interaction of a hot upper mantle, a weak lower crust, and lower crustal flow in response to changing forces at the plate edges. Deformation produced by this dynamic model explains the maintenance of relief and hence sediment supply over long time periods.
INTRODUCTION The continental promontory of the Eurasian plate in SE Asia called Sundaland (Figure 1) contains a large number of Cenozoic sedimentary basins which formed between the Paleogene and the Middle Miocene. Many are very deep and some
Book Title Book Series Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union 10.1029/Series#LettersChapter# 1

contain up to 14 km of Cenozoic section. The origin of many of the basins is problematic in terms of the causes of the stresses which formed them, and the amount of sediment accumulated. The Sundaland continental region is surrounded by active and complex tectonic boundaries. To the south and southwest there is subduction of oceanic crust of the Indian Plate at the SundaJava Trench, to the southeast Australian continental crust is colliding in eastern Indonesia with the Sundaland margin, associated with young extension in the Banda Sea. To the east there are a number of marginal basins

SUNDALAND BASINS

Figure 1. Location of Sundaland and the principal sedimentary basins within the region.

which opened during the Cenozoic, including the South China Sea whose origin remains controversial. To the west and northwest are the Himalayan orogenic belt, associated collision belts in Myanmar, and large strike-slip faults which accommodate IndiaAsia collision. This setting is very different from large continental areas such as Africa, Australia and South America that are mostly surrounded by major mid-oceanic rift systems or linear, relatively simple, subduction zones. Consequently it might be expected that sedimentary basins developed on Sundaland crust would exhibit some different characteristics from classic rifts, foredeep and strike-slip basins. However, most studies of the Sundaland basins, particularly rift basins, have tried to fit them into established models, such as the McKenzie model [McKenzie, 1978; White and McKenzie, 1988] for extension [e.g. Longley, 1997; Wheeler and White, 2002], or interpreted them as strike-slip pull-apart basins [e.g. Huchon et al., 1994; Leloup et al., 2001; Polachan et al., 1991; Tapponnier et al., 1986]. A common theme concerning the development of Sundaland basins has been the attempt to strongly link many of them tectonically, and in terms of sedi-

ment sources and supply, to escape tectonics and the uplift and erosion of Asia. In many cases, the whole region has been seen as merely a far-field expression of IndiaAsia collision. It is argued in this paper that this collision, and its influence, have been over-emphasized, and that important local tectonic activity driving subsidence and uplift within Sundaland needs to be considered. We discuss how these basins differ from those in other continental regions and suggest that Sundaland is an unusual region to which conventional models for basin formation cannot be applied without important changes. The nature and timing of subsidence and inversion suggest a complex and shifting pattern of extension and contraction with time. The long and active tectonic history of the Sundaland margins has determined the character of the crust and mantle and strongly influenced basin development. 2. SUNDALAND Sundaland is the region of SE Asia that formed an exposed landmass during the Pleistocene sea level lowstand, com-

HALL AND MORLEY

prising Indochina, the ThaiMalay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the shallow marine shelf (the Sunda Shelf ) between them. It is the promontory extending southeast from Eurasia although seismicity [Cardwell and Isacks, 1978; Johnston and Bowin, 1981] and GPS measurements [Rangin et al., 1999; Simons et al., 1999] indicate that a SE Asian Plate or Sunda Block is moving separately from the Eurasian plate at the present day. Sundaland (Figure 1) is the continental core of SE Asia. It is now bordered to the west, south and east by subduction and collision zones. To the north it merges with the region deformed in the Cenozoic by IndiaAsia collision. Geologically it is convenient to separate Sundaland from Asia (Figure 2) to the northeast along the Red River Shear Zone, which follows the Carboniferous Song Ma suture, and to the northwest from a Burma block along the HpakanTawmaw jade tract, a Cretaceous suture and ophiolite zone [Hutchison, 1975]. The western and southern margins of Sundaland follow the Sunda and Java Trenches. The eastern margin is irregular; it is usual to draw the boundary of the Sundaland continental core through west Java, northeast into Borneo and then northwest towards the South China Sea, to exclude the mainly ophiolitic rocks added to its eastern margin in the Cretaceous. However, we include east Java, west Sulawesi and northern Borneo within Sundaland since these areas formed its eastern active margins throughout the Cenozoic. These boundaries are similar to those suggested by seismicity and GPS measurements for the Sunda Block. Sundaland was essentially in its present form, and in a similar position with respect to Asia, by the Early Mesozoic [Metcalfe, 1990; 1996] and since then has been largely emergent or submerged to very shallow depths (Figure 3). It was formed by amalgamation of continental blocks during the Triassic Indosinian orogeny and is surrounded by material mostly added later in the Mesozoic. During the PermoTriassic stages of suturing there was extensive granite magmatism from Thailand to Malaya, associated first with subduction preceding collision, and later with post-collisional thickening of the continental crust [Hutchison, 1989; 1996b]. In west Borneo the oldest rocks known are Paleozoic metamorphic rocks intruded by Mesozoic granites. Isotopic studies indicate the Malay Peninsula has a Proterozoic continental basement [Liew and McCulloch, 1985; Liew and Page, 1985] and there is some geochemical evidence to suggest that west Sulawesi may include Proterozoic basement [Bergman et al., 1996]. The Mesozoic stratigraphic record is patchy but suggests that much of Sundaland was emergent after the Late Triassic. Mesozoic terrestrial deposits are not extensive (except in northern Sundaland from the Khorat to the LanpingSiamo fold belt region) but are found throughout Sundaland; Mesozoic marine deposits are rare. From Sumatra to Borneo the older continental core

is surrounded by Mesozoic ophiolitic and arc igneous rocks, which may include fragments of older continental material, accreted to the Sundaland margins during the Cretaceous. There appears to have been an important tectonothermal event in the mid to late Cretaceous which led to crustal thickening and elevation [e.g. Barley et al., 2003; Charusiri et al., 1993; Cobbing et al., 1986; 1992; Mitchell, 1993; Mitchell et al., 2002; Morley, 2004; Upton et al., 1997]. There are granites of Cretaceous age which may represent Andean-type margins facing the Pacific and Indian oceans, or the products of a continent collision [Barley et al., 2003]. However, little is known of the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene history because of the paucity of sedimentary rocks of this age on land or offshore. 3. BASIN SETTING The areas surrounding Sundaland are currently tectonically active, and include a variety of tectonic settings. The Cenozoic sedimentary basins formed near to regions of subductionrelated deformation, arccontinent and continentcontinent collision, and intra-continental strike-slip deformation [Wicker and Stearn, 1999]. At present the contrast between intense tectonic activity, manifested by seismicity and volcanism, at the margins of Sundaland and the apparent stability of its interior is remarkable. Most of the Sunda Shelf is flat, extremely shallow (Figure 3), with depths considerably less than 200 m, and was emergent at times during the Pleistocene. Data from this region have been used in construction of global eustatic sea level curves [e.g. Fleming et al., 1998]. Perhaps for these reasons, Cenozoic Sundaland has been viewed in the same way, and its core has been described by some authors as the Sunda shield or craton, widely regarded as a region of stability [e.g. Ben-Avraham and Emery, 1973; Gobbett and Hutchison, 1973; Tjia, 1996], which has remained undeformed and close to sea level since the Mesozoic. However, the character of the crust and mantle in this region differ from nearby continental regions and there are a number of reasons to doubt the supposed long-term stability and rigidity of Sundaland. 3.1. Tomography P and S wave seismic tomography models (Plate 1) show Sundaland is an area of low velocities in the lithosphere and underlying mantle [e.g. Bijwaard et al., 1998; Lebedev and Nolet, 2003; Ritsema and van Heijst, 2000; Widyantoro and van der Hilst, 1997], in strong contrast to Indian and Australian continental lithosphere to the NW and SE which are probably colder, thicker and stronger. Sundaland is an exceptional area; the only other continental areas of comparable size with similar low velocities at such depths are East Africa and the Basin and Range province, both regions of known

SUNDALAND BASINS

Figure 2. Principal geographical and geological features of Sundaland and the surrounding region. The Sunda Shelf and contiguous continental shelf of SE Asia is shaded in light gray up to the 200 m bathymetric contour. The other bathymetric contours are at 2000, 4000 and 6000 m.

active high extension. Low mantle velocities are commonly interpreted in terms of elevated temperature, and this is consistent with regional high heat flow, but they may also reflect elevated H2O or CO2 contents, partial melting or seismic

anisotropy [Lebedev and Nolet, 2003]. Many oil company wells report high CO2 levels, although it is not known if this has a mantle source, or a deep crustal source, in which case it may be the product of high heat flow and metamorphic

HALL AND MORLEY

Figure 3. DEM showing principal surface features of the Sundaland region based on Smith and Sandwell [1997] showing seafloor bathymetry from satellite altimetry combined with topography from GTOPO30.

reactions in the lower or upper crust. The mantle heat flow contribution estimated by basin modeling [e.g. Madon and Watts, 1998; Watcharanantakul and Morley, 2000] also suggests a high value, although because such modeling is based on simple isostatic assumptions the mantle heat flow may be overestimated. Worldwide heat flow from the mantle is typically in the order of 2030 mW/m2 and may exceptionally approach 40 mW/m2 [Artemieva and Mooney, 1999; Wang et al., 2000]. The high heat flows seen regionally across Sundaland, and the generally low mantle velocities observed in tomographic models suggest mantle heat flow values of the order of 40 mW/m2. 3.2.Heat Flow Global data clearly show that Sundaland is a region of high heat flow with surface heat flow greater than 80 mW/m2 [Artemieva and Mooney, 2001]. Plate 2 shows contoured heat flow for SE Asia based on published databases and oil com-

pany compilations [Kenyon and Beddoes, 1977; Pollack et al., 1990; 1993; Rutherford and Qureshi, 1981]. Heat flow throughout the region is high and is not simply a result of arc magmatism as sometimes suggested [e.g. Nagoa and Uyeda, 1995]. The data used in the contoured map are mainly from oil company wells, which are generally far from present-day volcanoes. A number of factors may have contributed to produce the high observed upper crustal heat flows. Offshore Vietnam is an area of high heat flow probably related to OligoMiocene oceanic spreading in the South China Sea [Shi et al., 2003]. The area from the Malacca Strait north of Central Sumatra to NW Java also shows high heat flows, which are probably the consequence of nearby subduction-related arc magmatism in Sumatra and Java. There are few heat flow measurements close to volcanoes and the map probably underestimates the heat flow in the region of the modern volcanic arcs. A contribution from active volcanoes has been estimated by assigning a heat flow value at the site of each volcano of 140 mW/m2, based on observations in the

SUNDALAND BASINS

Plate 1. Depth slices through S20RTS S wave tomographic model [Ritsema and van Heijst, 2000] for SE Asia. High shear velocities are represented by blue and low shear velocities by red with an intensity which is proportional to the amplitude of the shear velocity perturbations. The range in shear velocity variation is given below each map.

Plate 2. Contoured heat flow map for SE Asia based on the database of Pollack et al. [1990; 1993] and oil company compilations [Kenyon and Beddoes, 1977; Rutherford and Qureshi, 1981].

HALL AND MORLEY

Japan Arc [Nagoa and Uyeda, 1995], but this is not incorporated in Plate 2. Heat flows measured in the interior Sundaland basins from the Gulf of Thailand to west Borneo are also high where arc magmatism is not a feasible explanation. These basins are more than 800 km from the active Sunda volcanic arc and similar distances from oceanic crust of the South China Sea. The Malay Basin, Pattani Basin and Gulf of Thailand are characterized by high to very high present-day geothermal gradients (3075C/km). In the Pattani and Malay Basins geothermal gradients and heat flows are very high in wells with 48 km of post-rift MioceneRecent sediments. The range of heat flow values for 30 wells in the Pattani Basin is from 78 mW/m2 to 101 mW/m2 [Bustin and Chonchawalit, 1995; Pigott and Sattayarak, 1993]. A similar range of heat flows is reported for the Malay Basin [Madon et al., 1999]. These are values 1525 million years after the onset of thermal subsidence yet they are similar to heat flows in the active East African Rift away from very high heat flow volcanic centers. The highest heat flows and geothermal gradients in the Malay and Pattani Basins occur around the basin centers, whilst the lowest values occur around the basin flanks, suggesting the basins are contributing significantly to the elevated values. Basins can affect heat flow because of the insulating effects of the sedimentary rocks (particularly shales and coals) and by concentrating the radiogenic erosional products from granitic terrains. Sundaland, particularly the zone extending from Thailand to the Malay Peninsula, has a large number of granite intrusions of Triassic and Late Cretaceous age [Cobbing et al., 1992; Dunning et al., 1995; Hutchison, 1973; Krhenbuhl, 1991; Schwartz et al., 1995] and these may also be present offshore. Consequently some of the high heat flow may be attributed to radiogenic heat production, either from the granites or from sediments derived from granite sources, in the upper crust. Waples [2001; 2002] estimated high radiogenic heat production from sediments could contribute up to 1.8 mW/m2 in the Malay and Pattani Basins. A prolonged history of high heat flow within Sundaland is indicated by other lines of evidence. There was sporadic MioceneQuaternary basaltic volcanism in SE Vietnam, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and north Borneo [Hutchison, 1996b]. There are metamorphic core complexes east of the Sagaing Fault in Myanmar, at Doi Inthanon and Doi Suthep in NW Thailand and around the Red River Fault Zone in Vietnam [Bertrand et al., 1999; Dunning et al., 1995; Jolivet et al., 2001]. The metamorphic core complexes are direct indicators that flow of the lower crust has occurred in places. There are Oligocene granites at Doi Inthanon in NW Thailand. In addition, subduction may have contributed by arc volcanism around the western to southern Sundaland margin between the Myanmar Central Basin and the Indonesian archipelago,

and within Borneo [reviewed in Hutchison, 1996b; Macpherson and Hall, 2002]. Sundaland, particularly the zone extending from Thailand to the Malay Peninsula, has a large number of granite intrusions of Triassic and Late Cretaceous age [Cobbing et al., 1992; Dunning et al., 1995; Hutchison, 1973; Krhenbuhl, 1991; Schwartz et al., 1995] and these may also be present offshore. Consequently some of the high heat flow may be attributed to radiogenic heat production, either from the granites or from sediments derived from granite sources, in the upper crust. High radiogenic heat production and the insulating effects of argillaceous sediments appear to be important factors in explaining why the Pattani and Malay Basins have high heat flow [Waples, 2001; 2002]. However, the tomographic models suggest a significant heat flow contribution from deeper in the lithosphere. That deep processes cause high heat flow which affect much of the crust is supported by gravity data and subsidence histories that suggest a thin elastic thickness for the lithosphere [Madon and Watts, 1998; Watcharanantakul and Morley, 2000]. In summary, at the margins of Sundaland high heat flows are related to subduction-related processes and magma rise. In contrast, the hot interior of Sundaland appears to be the result of high mantle heat flow, a significant upper crustal heat flow from radiogenic granites and their erosional products, as well as the insulation effects of thick sediments. 3.3. Sediment Yields Many estimates of global sediment yields ignore SE Asia. However, high present-day and long-term sediment yields for Sundaland imply that relief in the region has been maintained, indicating important tectonic activity over a prolonged period of the Cenozoic. At present, sediment discharge into the global oceans is estimated at between 12 and 20 ? 109 t/yr [Hay, 1998; Ludwig and Probst, 1998; McLennan, 1993; Milliman and Meade, 1983; Milliman and Syvitski, 1992]. Milliman and Meade [1983] suggested that more than 70% of this discharge comes from rivers of SE Asia and Oceania but their data set included only 8 rivers from the region, in New Guinea and Taiwan. Milliman and Syvitski [1992] estimated a figure of 20 to 25% based on a data set including 31 rivers from SE Asia. Milliman et al. [1999] suggested a similar percentage, based on 56 rivers from Indochina, New Guinea, Java, and the Philippines, and concluded that six islands in SE Asia (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, Timor and New Guinea) provide about 2025% of the sediment discharge to the global ocean, although they account for only about 2% of the global land area. Although these rivers may not be representative of the entire region all estimates indicate the region is currently one of high sediment supply to the oceans [Suggate and Hall,

SUNDALAND BASINS

2003]. This is supported by studies of short-term sediment yields in the region by hydrologists [e.g. Douglas, 1967; 1999; Douglas et al., 1992]. However, additional data are needed for SE Asia and the West Pacific islands, particularly from the large ever-wet tropical islands with small human populations such as New Guinea and Borneo. There have been few studies of long-term sediment yields but those studies [Hall and Nichols, 2002; Morley et al., 2003] show that the late Cenozoic rates are consistent with estimates of current rates. For example, the amount of sediment derived from Borneo in the Neogene is about one third of that eroded from the Himalayas during the Neogene [Hall and Nichols, 2002], indicating similar denudation rates per unit area. Although there are complex relationships between rock uplift, weathering, erosion and downslope transport [Hovius, 1998] it is clear that the high rates of sediment supply indicate elevation and relief, although factors such as rainfall and runoff are also important [Hay, 1998; Ludwig and Probst, 1998; Milliman and Syvitski, 1992; Summerfield and Hulton, 1994]. Sundaland has been close to its present position at the equator throughout the Cenozoic. There was a change from an Oligocene drier climate to a wetter Neogene climate [Morley, 1998; 2000]. Parts of the region, such as Borneo, remained ever-wet throughout the Neogene, whereas areas north and south of the equator, such as Sumatra, Java and Indochina, developed a monsoonal, highly seasonal climate by the Pliocene [Morley, 1998; 2000]. However, although precipitation and runoff may have changed during the Cenozoic, climate alone cannot account for high sediment fluxes, and relief must have been maintained. Was the relief within Sundaland, or was sediment derived from elevated regions outside Sundaland? The sediments in basins in and around Sundaland are often interpreted to be the product of erosion much further north in Asia following Indian collision [e.g. Mtivier et al., 1999]. In contrast, we suggest that the sedimentary basins of the region were filled from local sources and there is no need to assume significant input from Asia. This in turn implies tectonic activity to produce the relief required to maintain sediment input as discussed below. 3.4. Sediment Sources Within Sundaland The location of Sundaland adjacent to the Himalayas and the great rivers of Indochina (Mekong, Red River, Salween) flowing from the north (Figure 2) has suggested links between sedimentation and the rise of the Himalayas and Tibet. Hutchison [1996a] and Hall [1996] suggested that rivers such as the Mekong and Chao Phraya crossed Sundaland to feed the NW Borneo margin, largely to explain the amount of sediment there, although both later amended this view [Hall and Nichols, 2002; Hutchison et al., 2000]. Mtivier et al. [1999] identified

changes in sedimentation rates during the Cenozoic and concluded that extrusion tectonics (consistent with lack of an elevated mountain belt) was more important between 50 and 30 Ma, whereas crustal thickening and uplift became more important after 30 Ma when sedimentation rates increased. They focused on the effect of the IndiaAsia collision and ignored sediment input from local sources. However, local sources are significant and recent work has cast doubt on a long history of erosion in Asia supplying sediment to the south [Clark, 2003]. We have highlighted above the importance of high sediment yields in the region. We suggest that despite being adjacent to the IndiaAsia collision zone most of the sediment was derived from elevated regions within Sundaland. Before 30 Ma there were barriers to sediment supply from Asia. Thailand is at the lower end of the topographic gradient from the Himalayas, which has been explained as a result of a wedge of ductile lower crust flowing out from Tibetan Plateau [Clark and Royden, 2000]. However, to view this slope as a consequence only of IndiaAsia collision is too simple. Radiometric and apatite fission track studies discussed below suggest that there was initial uplift in the Late CretaceousPaleogene, between the Shan Plateau of Myanmar and northern Thailand, through Laos, into the LanpingSiamo fold belt (Figure 4). During the OligoceneEarly Miocene a narrow NS elevated zone was imposed on the earlier uplift in western Thailand. Thus, for much of the Cenozoic, northern Sundaland was relatively high ground and a broad topographic saddle may have existed between the Sundaland highlands and the Himalayas. In the Middle Miocene uplift spread out radially from eastern Tibet [e.g. Clark and Royden, 2000] and linked with existing highlands of northern Sundaland (Plate 3). Further barriers were produced by active faulting. In Thailand the largest transverse structural barrier occurs where the Mae Ping Fault cuts NWSE across the Cenozoic rift basins at the Chainat strike-slip duplex (Figures 4 and 5). This restraining bend high separated the Phitsanulok Basin to the north from the Suphan Buri and Ayutthaya Basins to the south during the OligoMiocene [OLeary and Hill, 1989] and lies directly across the path of the present-day Chao Phraya River. There is also the question of whether the large fluvial systems of Indochina were even established by the Middle Miocene. It is unlikely that any through-going fluvial system recognizable as the Chao Phraya River (Figures 2 and 5) existed during the Late Oligocene and Miocene when the rift basins of Thailand were active because active rift basins tend to be sites for interior drainage into long-lived lakes. In Thailand there is considerable evidence for prolonged periods of lacustrine conditions during the Late OligoceneMiddle Miocene in many of the rift basins both onshore (e.g. Phitsanulok, Mae Sot, Fang, Suphan Buri, Li, Lampang, Chiang Muan, and Mae Moh [Flint et al., 1988; Morley et al., 2001; OLeary and Hill, 1989; Pra-

HALL AND MORLEY

ditan, 1989]) and offshore (Chumphon and Pattani Basins [Jardine, 1997; Praditan, 1989]). In the Late Miocene extension began to diminish in activity, and by the Pliocene inversion marks the end of extension in most basins [Morley et al., 2001; Uttamo et al., 2003]. If an early Chao Phraya River had existed it would not have linked with Tibetan plateau drainage systems. The different branches of the Chao Phraya fluvial system probably linked up only in the Pliocene, when erosion and thermal subsidence began to eliminate the rift topography of central Thailand (Figure 5). The absence of major through-going rivers is also indicated by the very proximal character of sediment in several basins [OLeary and Hill, 1989; Praditan, 1989; Uttamo et al., 1999] which was derived from adjacent highlands. Syn-rift sandstones are generally sub-arkoses, litharenites and arkoses sug-

Figure 4. Northern Sundaland (Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, China) showing the many extensional and strike-slip faults and associated basins which indicate significant internal deformation of the Sundaland region during the Cenozoic (based on satellite images, surface mapping and seismic reflection data). The Mae Ping and Three Pagodas Fault Zones display numerous branching, splaying and duplex geometries, and affect a large area (unlike the Sagaing and Red River Faults), possibly indicating a transpressional setting during the Paleogene.

Figure 5. The present-day drainage of Thailand and adjacent regions, shown with the principal rift basins and associated faults. Some of the main barriers to through-going drainage such as long-lived lakes, and structural barriers (Chainat Ridge) are highlighted. The present-day drainage pattern reflects the older syn-rift pattern (drainage normal to rift orientation) and late linkage of rift axial systems.

10

SUNDALAND BASINS

Plate 3. Reconstructions of the tectonic evolution of SE Asia based on Morley [2002a] modified to show the nature of basin fill (marine or continental) and approximate location and timing of rifting and deformation in Sundaland.

HALL AND MORLEY

11

gesting a short transport distance [e.g. Flint et al., 1988; OLeary and Hill, 1989; Praditan, 1989; Trevana and Clark, 1986; Uttamo et al., 1999]. Provenance studies of Miocene sandstones and conglomerates in the Chiang Mai Basin, the largest basin in northern Thailand, show a history of unroofing of the metamorphic core complexes west of the basin [Rhodes et al., 2003]. In northern Thailand the earliest basin fill was derived from metamorphic rocks, and in the Late MiocenePliocene granitic rocks were exposed [Praditan, 1989; Uttamo et al., 1999]. Further south the OligoceneMiddle Miocene fill of the Ayutthaya Basin is predominantly alluvial fan and fluviatile sediments, with large volumes of arkose derived from granites immediately north of the basin, and volcanic and clastic input from the Khorat Plateau to the east [OLeary and Hill, 1989]. The Tibetan rivers were deflected away from Thailand by Paleogene and OligoMiocene uplift, and carried their sediment to the west and east of Sundaland (Figure 2 and Plate 3). In the west the Bengal Fan and Myanmar Central Basin (Figures 1 and 2) were the two major sites of Himalayan sedimentation until the Middle Miocene [e.g. Pivnik et al., 1998; Shamsuddin and Abdullah, 1997]. Until the Middle Miocene some rivers from the Tibetan Plateau flowed towards the Central Basin, but uplift in Assam, SE Tibet and northern Myanmar caused this route to be cut. One likely consequence of the uplift was to cut off the Irrawaddy River from the Tibetan Plateau and restrict its headwaters to a region just north of the Central Basin. It has been proposed [Clark et al., 2004] that capture of river systems occurred when the Tibetan Plateau uplift propagated eastwards so that other drainage systems, notably the Salween and Mekong Rivers, started to emerge from the Tibetan Plateau. There appears to have been a marked change in the site of deposition of much of the sediment derived from the Tibetan Plateau; before the Middle Miocene it was in the Bengal Fan and Central Basin, after the Middle Miocene it was the Gulf of Martaban (Salween River) and the South China Sea (Mekong River). Much less is known about drainage patterns and development in the southern part of Sundaland. However, the palaeogeography of the region indicates a fluvial connection between Indochina and NW Borneo was unlikely. By the Middle Miocene there was a marine shelf between Indochina and Borneo (Plate 3) and the many basins (Pattani, Malay, Nam Con Son) within this shelf would have trapped sediments long before they reached the Borneo margin. Provenance studies [van Hattum et al., 2003] show that Paleogene deep water sediments of the Crocker Fan [Crevello, 2001; William et al., 2003] were probably derived from Borneo itself. 3D seismic data reveal complex meandering rivers in offshore basins of the Sunda Shelf [e.g. Crevello, 2001; Fatt, 1999] but there is too little published information to construct a coherent picture

of drainage patterns. Throughout the Neogene major rivers flowed onto the Sunda Shelf from Borneo and smaller rivers from the Malay Peninsula. The volume of sediment eroded from Borneo was huge and the Neogene depocentres offshore Sarawak and Sabah are extremely deep, as recorded above, and filled entirely with sediment derived from Borneo. Sumatra and Java, at the edge of Sundaland, appear to have been isolated from rivers of the Sunda Shelf by elevated regions running from the central Malay Peninsula via the Singapore Ridge into western Borneo. Most rivers probably flowed south and west from these highlands filling the Mergui, Sumatra and Java Basins until about the Late Miocene when Java and Sumatra became elevated causing rivers to flow north and east into the Malacca Straits and Java Sea. 4. BASIN HISTORIES Recent reviews of Sundaland Cenozoic sedimentary basins and their setting have been given by several authors [Hall, 2002; Longley, 1997; Morley, 2001; 2002a; Pertamina BPPKA, 1996a; 1996b; 1996c; Petronas, 1999; Sandal, 1996]. The characteristics of the basins and timing of basin initiation and inversion (Plates 4 and 5) are topics too large to be discussed in detail but here we summarize some key features. 4.1. Early Cenozoic Setting of Basin Formation As noted above, there are few Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene rocks on land or offshore. Their absence is usually interpreted to indicate that most of Sundaland was above sea level at the beginning of the Cenozoic. Emergence may have been the result of a tectonothermal event that affected the region from Indochina to the Malay Peninsula [e.g. Ahrendt et al., 1993; Dunning et al., 1995; Krhenbuhl, 1991; Upton et al., 1997]. There is also evidence of Late Cretaceous deformation associated with emplacement of ophiolites and metamorphism at the Sundaland margins in Borneo, Java and Sumatra. At the beginning of the Cenozoic (Plate 3) northern Sundaland was relatively high. Uplift in the Late CretaceousPaleogene extended from the Shan Plateau of Myanmar and northern Thailand through Laos into the LanpingSiamo fold belt (Figure 4) as the result of a diffuse, poorly defined orogenic event [Charusiri et al., 1993; Morley, 2002b; 2004; Upton, 1999; Wang and Burchfiel, 1997]. In Thailand, outside the region of metamorphic core complexes, apatite fission track studies [Racey et al., 1997; Upton, 1999; Upton et al., 1997] indicate the onset of cooling between 70 and 50 Ma, and geological observations [Mouret et al., 1993] indicate an episode of inversion during the early Paleocene (about 65 Ma). In the frontal monocline and LoeiPetchabun fold belt, the amount of post-Khorat Group (JurassicCretaceous) over-

Plate 4. Ages of basin initiation in Sundaland. The record typically begins in the Eocene or Oligocene although since the older parts of most sequences are terrestrial, and deeper parts of many basins are not drilled, most are relatively poorly dated.

Plate 5. Ages of basin inversion or elevation due to tectonism in and around Sundaland.

HALL AND MORLEY

13

burden thickness removed since inversion is estimated at about 2.3 to 4.4 km, depending on the geothermal gradient used (25C km-1 [Mouret et al., 1993]; 35C km-1 [Racey et al., 1997]) whereas some 26 km of section may have been removed during the Paleogene in parts of western Thailand [Morley, 2004; Upton, 1999]. Further south the region is interpreted to have been continental based largely on negative evidence. The Malay Peninsula has probably been above sea level since the Mesozoic. Upper JurassicLower Cretaceous sediments in the Malay Peninsula are continental and described as molasse, and overlie older rocks with a marked unconformity [Gobbett and Hutchison, 1973; Harbury et al., 1990] They indicate fluvial, lacustrine and deltaic environments. There are a few Cenozoic rocks in isolated lacustrine basins [Stauffer, 1973]. KAr dates and fission track ages indicate a local increase in cooling rate in the Late Cretaceous [Krhenbuhl, 1991; Kwan et al., 1992], at a similar time to the uplift interpreted for Thailand. Elsewhere, there are unconformable contacts of Paleogene strata on Cretaceous or older sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks where the basement to sedimentary basins is seen (for example, in Sumatra, Java and Borneo), or has been penetrated by offshore drilling. Sediment provenance studies [van Hattum et al., 2003] indicate that an extensive area of SW Borneo was elevated by the Eocene, and hydrocarbon exploration has shown that the area between south Borneo and Java remained elevated until the Neogene [Bishop, 1980; Matthews and Bransden, 1995]. To the east of Sundaland was the ProtoSouth China Sea where there was already extension in the Early Cenozoic along the VietnamSouth China margin [Chen et al., 1993; Hayes et al., 1995; Jinmin, 1994; Lee et al., 2001; Matthews et al., 1997; Rangin et al., 1995; Ru and Pigott, 1986; Zhou et al., 1995]. To the south of the Proto-South China Sea some authors have suggested subduction beneath the NW Borneo margin in Sarawak [Hazebroek and Tan, 1993; Hutchison, 1996a; Taylor and Hayes, 1983] whereas others interpret a passive margin during the Paleocene and Early Eocene [Hall, 1996; 2002]. 4.2. Basin Formation From the Eocene onwards numerous sedimentary basins formed throughout Sundaland (Figures 1 and 2), many of which are unusually deep. Cenozoic sediments were deposited on a variety of basement rocks ranging from granites to ophiolites. The record typically begins in the Eocene or Oligocene (Plate 4) although since the older parts of most sequences are terrestrial all are relatively poorly dated. The basins can be divided into three main areas and tectonic provinces: 1) active margin basins that lie inboard of the AndamanSumatranJava Trench (Mergui, North, Cen-

tral and South Sumatra, West and East Java Basins); 2) Sunda Shelf basins that trend NWSE to NS within the interior of Sundaland (Thailand, Gulf of Thailand, and Malay, Penyu and West Natuna Basins) which formed at a similar time to basins further east which are offshore Vietnam (Nam Con Son Basin), and 3) Borneo margin basins (Baram Delta province, Sandakan, Tarakan and Kutai Basins) that are situated on the former active margin of northern Borneo and passive margin of eastern Borneo. 4.2.1. Sundaland active margins. At the southern edge of Sundaland are basins that formed close to Cenozoic subduction margins. In gross geometry the Mergui, North, Central, South Sumatra, West and East Java Basins appear to lie in a simple backarc location, distributed along an arcuate trend, mimicking the trench, some 300700 km into the upper plate. These basins developed across a broad area of southern Sundaland during the Paleogene [Eubank and Makki , 1981; Matthews and Bransden, 1995; Pertamina BPPKA, 1996a; 1996b; 1996c; Petronas, 1999; Williams and Eubank, 1995; Williams et al., 1995]. The earliest sediments in all of the basins are continental, and therefore the exact age of basin initiation is uncertain. Many basins (e.g. Sumatra) remained largely continental until the Miocene whereas others (East Java, Barito) became marine by the Late Eocene [Cole and Crittenden, 1997; Mason et al., 1993; Matthews and Bransden, 1995]. Rifting had ceased by the Early Miocene, there was a transition to thermal subsidence, and marine deposition was widespread. The orientation of basin-controlling structures varies; some are trench-parallel whereas others are highly oblique to the trench. The basins have been described as failed backarc rift basins [e.g. Eubank and Makki, 1981], the Sumatran basins have been interpreted as formed in a strike-slip setting although the Sumatran Fault system became active long after their formation, in the Miocene [McCarthy and Elders, 1997], and it has also been suggested that they formed in response to subduction rollback [Morley, 2002a]. At the northern end of the system the MerguiNorth Sumatra Basin has a broadly NS trench-parallel orientation [Pertamina BPPKA, 1996a]. The NS orientation of the Sumatran rift basins may reflect a preexisting NS basement fabric controlling fault orientation. During MiocenePliocene inversion the NS fabric was overprinted by NWSE trends [Pertamina BPPKA, 1996a; 1996b; 1996c]. In the Central and Southern Sumatra Basins the dominant structural grain of the EoceneOligocene rifts is NS to NNESSW, 3040 oblique to the trench, although secondary NWSE trends are also present [Madon and Ahmad, 1999; Pertamina BPPKA, 1996b; 1996c]. In the southern part of the system in the offshore West and East Java Basins (Plate 6) the rifts strike NESW and appear to reflect basement struc-

14

SUNDALAND BASINS

Plate 6. Basin cross-sections in the Sundaland region based on published studies: a) East Java Sea [Matthews and Bransden, 1995]; b) Triton Horst, offshore Vietnam [Dang and Sladen, 1997]; c) Cuu LongNam Con Son Basins, offshore Vietnam [Simon et al., 1997]; d) West Natuna Basin, Sunda Shelf [Phillips et al., 1997]; e) northern Malay Basin [Petronas, 1999].

HALL AND MORLEY

15

tural trends [Hamilton, 1979] and the orientation of Paleogene extension in the Makassar Strait [e.g. Hall , 2002]. Onshore in East Java the NESW structures interact with an arc-parallel trend and volcanic loading contributed to basin subsidence [Smyth et al., 2003]. 4.2.2. Sunda Shelf. Perhaps the most remarkable and unusual basins within Sundaland are those in the central region. This region stretches from Sarawak to southern Laos, where there is a discontinuous string of basins of highly variable strike containing up to 14 km [e.g. Petronas, 1999] of Cenozoic sediments. These basins include the onshore Thailand basins, Gulf of Thailand basins including the large Pattani Basin, and the Malay, Penyu and West Natuna Basins of Malaysia and Indonesia (Figure 1 and Plate 6). Some of these basins have been suggested to have a strikeslip, rather than an extensional, origin [ Petronas , 1999; Polachan et al., 1991; Replumaz et al., 2004; Tapponnier et al., 1986]. However, seismic reflection data from the Gulf of Thailand indicate the basins are extensional, and while some record oblique extension there is no evidence of major throughgoing strike-slip faults [Morley, 2001; 2002a]. Basement fabrics must have influenced basin orientation, but other factors such as regional tectonic controls on stress orientation and magnitude probably played a significant role. Most of the basins are characterised by several phases of extension, typically with different fault orientations during the different phases of extension. The Malay and Pattani Basins are characterized by Cenozoic sedimentary rock thicknesses greater than 6 km, rapid subsidence rates (maximum time-averaged rates over 5 Ma from the main depocentres of 0.21 cm/yr), high to very high present-day geothermal gradients (3075C/km), and the absence or minor importance of fault-controlled subsidence for the majority of the basin history. When compared with typical rift basins such as the North Sea, subsidence rates for these Sunda Shelf basins are almost an order of magnitude higher (Figure 6). Many of the central Sundaland basins, in particular the Malay, Pattani and Nam Con Son Basins, have extensive and thick post-rift sequences. Consequently the basin centers are too deep and thick to be completely penetrated by drilling. Dating of rift sequences is either from shallow incomplete sections on the basin flanks, or is inferred from the age of overlying sequences. However, it appears that during the Eocene (and possibly earlier) there was an extensive area of rift basins filled predominantly by continental deposits in the heart of Sundaland. Thermal subsidence began in the Late Oligocene, accompanied by some late extensional faulting. Extension in the Malay Basin became progressively inactive from south to north. In some basins, such as the Malay Basin [Petronas,

Figure 6. Comparison of subsidence rates of North Sea basins and three super-deep basins of SE Asia. The North Sea curves are from the Viking Graben and show a rift to post-rift subsidence rate typical of average continental crust. The SE Asian basins have subsided an order of magnitude faster, possibly indicating unusual continental crust and mantle. Subsidence curves are from the deepest parts of the basins.

1999] and Nam Con Son Basin [Lee et al., 2001; Matthews et al., 1997; Olson and Dorobek, 2000] there is evidence for more than one phase of extension. Thermal subsidence began in offshore Sarawak in the Early Miocene, in the northwestern Gulf of Thailand in the Middle Miocene, and in central Thailand in the Late MiocenePliocene. There are three remarkable features about this string of basins: the progressive northward-younging of the onset of thermal subsidence, the

16

SUNDALAND BASINS

very large component of thermal subsidence in the Malay and Pattani Basins for the dimensions of the rifts, and the association with metamorphic core complexes on the western margin of the rift system in northern Thailand. The Malay and Pattani Basins are rift basins. However they exhibit small amounts of extension ( < 1.5) for the thickness of post-rift section (410 km). The Malay Basin (Plate 6) has an EoceneOligocene syn-rift section greater than 4 km thick and a Lower MioceneRecent post-rift section that exceeds 8 km thickness in places [e.g. Madon et al., 1999]. The amount of upper crustal extension indicated by offsets on synrift faults visible on seismic reflection lines is less than = 1.5 [e.g. Madon et al., 1999] but back-stripping of the post-rift section suggests lithosphere thinning up to = 4 [Madon and Watts, 1998]. The Pattani Basin has a maximum of about 7.5 km of Upper Oligocene to Recent section. The Middle Miocene-Recent thermal subsidence component reaches a maximum thickness of 6 km. Flexural and Airy backstripping of the Pattani Basin post-rift section indicates = 22.5. Like the Malay Basin this v value does not match estimates of extension from the syn-rift section using direct measurements from seismic sections and from STRETCH modeling ( = 1.3 [Watcharanantakul and Morley, 2000]). Wheeler and White [2000] suggested that post-rift subsidence in the Pattani Basin is not anomalous. However, they interpreted the base of the post-rift section to be located near the tops of small normal faults (assuming they were syn-rift structures) and incorrectly placed the base of the post-rift section at very shallow depths (maximum of 2 km). In fact, the post-rift section is affected by minor displacement conjugate normal faults [Kornsawan and Morley, 2002] and the thickness of the post-rift section is much greater (6 km). In the northern and western parts of Sundaland there are few Cenozoic rocks and most areas were probably emergent for much of the Cenozoic. The Gulf of Thailand basins can be traced north onland into Thailand where there are many small basins, predominantly terrestrial. The onland basins were initiated in the Late OligoceneEarly Miocene and contain sequences which are predominantly fluviatile or lacustrine with a few possible marine horizons. This contrasts with the Gulf of Thailand where the basins became fully marine from the Middle to Late Miocene. Radiometric age dating indicates the major phases of left-lateral displacement on the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas Faults ended in the Late Oligocene [Lacassin et al., 1997] before the main phase of onland basin formation. Uttamo et al. [2003] suggested that fault tip, pullapart, fault wedge and extensional basins were related to NWtrending dextral and NE-trending sinistral strike-slip faults which developed during Late OligoceneEarly Miocene eastwest extension. Structural relationships within several basins demonstrate that normal faults have in places followed

underlying strike-slip faults (as pre-existing fabrics), but are not kinematically related to them [Morley, 2001; Morley, 2002a]. Strike-slip faults oblique to the NS rift trend have been reactivated as oblique extensional faults. 4.2.3. Borneo margins. Around Borneo are several very deep basins mainly filled by the erosional products of uplifted orogenic highlands but little is published on some of the basins and for many their deep structure is unknown. These basins include the Baram Delta province, NW Borneo; the Sandakan and Tarakan Basins of NE Borneo; and the Kutai Basin, east Borneo (Plate 7). Some of the basins were initiated in the Paleogene but in all cases most of their sediment fill is Miocene and younger. They are not well understood and there appear to be several different basin-forming mechanisms but like the Sunda Shelf basins they contain large amounts of sediment deposited very quickly. During the Early Cenozoic there were marine areas to the north and east of Borneo: the Crocker Fan and accretionary prism lay to the northwest [Hutchison, 1989; Hutchison et al., 2000] and developed in response to southeastward subduction of the Proto-South China Sea along the northern margin of Borneo (Plate 3). To the east the Kutai and Tarakan Basins form part of a passive continental margin that passes east into thinned continental or oceanic crust beneath the northern Makassar Straits [Calvert and Hall, 2003; Cloke et al., 1999]. The Kutai Basin formed by Eocene rifting of the Makassar Strait which separates east Borneo from west Sulawesi. There is up to 14 km of EoceneRecent sediment [Moss and Chambers, 1999] and the majority of this was probably deposited since the Early Miocene and was derived from erosion of the Borneo highlands and inversion of older parts of the basin margins (Plate 7), to the north and west, which began in the Early Miocene [Ferguson and McClay, 1997; van de Weerd and Armin, 1992]. The thick MioceneRecent basin sequences have filled accommodation space created during the Eocene rifting. Offshore NE Borneo are other deep basins of different origins. In the Tarakan Basin the Plio-Pleistocene sequence alone is about 4 km thick. Wight et al. [1993] recorded that the deepest Pleistocene depocentre contains a sediment thickness of up to 4.5 km and that Pleistocene depocentres do not coincide with Pliocene depocentres. No modeling of basin history has been published but strike-slip fault influence is suggested by published maps [Wight et al., 1993]. Swauger et al. [1995] reported 10 km of Neogene sediments in the Sandakan Basin, and Graves and Swauger [1997] suggested there may be as much as 15 km of sediment. Like the Kutei Basin the thick MioceneRecent basin sequences offshore Sandakan have filled pre-existing accommodation space, in this case created during Miocene rifting of the Sulu Sea, but there are

HALL AND MORLEY

17

Plate 7. Regional cross-sections across northern and eastern Borneo. Deep structure is schematic, but is based on gravity and seismic reflection data. The more detailed cross-sections focus on basin geometry and are based largely on industry seismic reflection data: Kutai Basin [Calvert, 2000a; Calvert, 2000b] NW Borneo [Morley et al., 2003; Sandal, 1996].

18

SUNDALAND BASINS

also thick sequences onshore (more than 6 km) in circular basins which are remnants of a formerly more extensive basin [Balaguru et al., 2003]. These sediments were deposited after a period of uplift and erosion in the Early Miocene resulting from collision between South China continental crust and the north Borneo active margin. Soon after the collision there was rapid subsidence, in the Middle Miocene, depositing thick clastic sequences in delta and pro-deltaic environments which were supplied from erosion of the central Borneo highlands to the south and west. Uplift in the northern part of Borneo is asymmetric and greatest towards the NW margin, due to partial subduction of buoyant thinned continental crust beneath the NW margin [Hutchison et al., 2000]. This Middle Miocene-Recent uplift has resulted in considerable erosion, and deposition of the erosional products on the shelf and deepwater region of NW Borneo. Episodic folding, thrusting and strike-slip deformation, reflected in local and regional unconformities [e.g. Levell , 1987], affect the Sabah margin, where Middle MioceneRecent sequences are generally less than 4 km thick. To the SW the Sabah margin passes into the Baram Delta province which contains up to 12 km vertical thickness of Middle MioceneRecent section in places [Morley et al., 2003; Sandal, 1996]. The province is characterized by gravity-style deformation typical of large deltas (growth faults, mobile shales, toe thrusts) and by tectonic uplift events and inversion of growth faults [Morley et al., 2003]. Although all these basins may have formed by several different processes we suggest they also should be viewed within the Sundaland context because they have unusually thick sedimentary sequences that were deposited in short periods of time and were derived from local sources. 4.3. Inversion During the Cenozoic the sedimentary basins were exposed to erosion as a consequence of eustatic changes in sea level as well as a variety of local and regional tectonic events. Erosion of elevated regions occurred during several episodes of uplift and inversion that affected Sundaland since the Late Cretaceous (Plate 5). Identifying and understanding the causes is an ongoing problem. Despite a long-term fall in global sea level from the Early Miocene there was a change to more widespread marine conditions beginning in the Early Miocene. A long-term gradual subsidence producing such flooding has been suggested to be a dynamic topographic effect resulting from longterm subduction [Lithgow-Bertelloni and Gurnis, 1997]. However, the area of marine conditions increased from the east from the region of South China Sea oceanic crust (Plate 3) and accompanied post-rift thermal subsidence in the Sunda Shelf basins from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene which

suggests cessation of rifting and onset of thermal subsidence was one driver for the onset of marine conditions. In addition, seismic reflection data suggest renewed subsidence in the Miocene with a tectonic origin, at least in southern Sundaland. Although many unconformities are of local extent, at least three events are widespread, and are probably principally of tectonic origin: at about 25 Ma, 1517 Ma and 56 Ma. However the important widespread unconformity around 11 Ma seen in many basins including the Pattani, Malay and Nam Con Son Basins and NW Borneo [e.g. Ginger et al., 1993; Higgs, 1999; Jardine, 1997; Matthews et al., 1997] probably has a primarily eustatic cause [e.g. Haq et al., 1987]. 4.3.1. Thailand to Malaysia. A significant period of uplift within Sundaland occurred during the OligoceneEarly Miocene and formed a NS belt running from northwestern Thailand through at least as far as peninsular Malaya (Plate 5). 40Ar-39Ar dating of feldspar and micas from within the Three Pagodas and Mae Ping Shear Zones yield cooling ages of around 3630 Ma [Lacassin et al., 1997]. These ages are interpreted to represent the cessation of strike-slip faulting. Apatite fission track central ages around the fault zone range between 29-20 Ma [Upton, 1999]. The ages are similar to those obtained for uplift of the metamorphic core complexes further north, west of Chiang Mai, with muscovite ages of 2416 Ma, and apatite fission track ages of 2318 Ma [Dunning et al., 1995; Rhodes, 2002]. However OligoceneMiocene uplift is not just confined to the strike-slip faults and metamorphic core complexes, In western Thailand between the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas Faults apatite fission track central ages are 184 and 221 Ma [Upton, 1999]. Along the Thai Peninsula south of the Three Pagodas Fault Cretaceous granites yield apatite fission track central ages of 2520 Ma and the Kaeng Kratchen Formation has ages of 3520 Ma [Upton, 1999]. In the Malay Peninsula KAr dates and fission track ages indicate a local increase in cooling rates to 5C/m.y. in the OligoMiocene [Krhenbuhl, 1991; Kwan et al., 1992] suggesting uplift. These data suggest a N-S belt of uplift developed during the OligoMiocene, which would have provided an important local sediment source both for the Mergui Basin to the west, and the onshore Thailand, Gulf of Thailand and Malay Basins to the east. 4.3.2. SW Borneo. The OligoMiocene uplift may have extended even further southeast into SW Borneo (Plate 5). An extensive area between Malaya and western Borneo remained or became elevated during the Cenozoic although the timing of elevation, the amount of crust eroded, and exact sites of sediment deposition are not known. Sediment provenance studies [van Hattum et al., 2003] show that SW Borneo provided sediment to the Crocker Fan from the Eocene. The

HALL AND MORLEY

19

Malay Peninsula was probably elevated from much earlier, judging from the character of Mesozoic rocks and the absence of Cenozoic rocks summarized above, and is connected to Borneo by the Singapore Platform, which at its shallowest point now has a water depth of 29 m. There, a thin Quaternary cover on probable Cretaceous basement is indicated by seismic surveys and drilling [Ben-Avraham and Emery, 1973]. This suggests very recent erosion, although nothing is known of the timing of uplift and amount of erosion. However, further south, thick fluviatile sequences in the hydrocarbon-rich NW Java Basins pass south into thick MioPliocene turbidites in West Java, which are now up to 2000 m above sea level. This implies significant sediment supply, a source area to north (the Singapore Platform?), and uplift since the Late Miocene. 4.3.3. Sundaland interior. In the interior of Sundaland seismic surveys show there were inversion events from the Early Miocene, apparently at different times in different areas [e.g. Morley, 2001; Petronas, 1999]. In northern Thailand there were at least four episodes of inversion from the Late Oligocene to the Pliocene [Morley, 2001; Uttamo et al., 1999]. There was only minor inversion in the Gulf of Thailand, whereas further south in the Malay and West Natuna Basins inversion is more important (Plate 6), with several episodes of Miocene inversion and associated intra-Miocene unconformities [Ginger et al., 1993; Higgs, 1999; Jardine, 1997; Lockhart et al., 1997; Phillips et al., 1997; Tjia and Liew, 1996]. In the Malay, Penyu and Natuna Basins there is up to 4000 feet of missing section [Higgs, 1999]. Discontinuities in backstripped subsidence curves [e.g. Madon and Watts, 1998; Wheeler, 2000] suggest renewed subsidence after Late Miocene inversion. This is also suggested by stratigraphy because after inversion the Sunda Shelf became entirely marine, although global sea level was falling, indicating significant vertical movements during the Neogene. Apatite fission track data from onshore central Vietnam show a significant increase in uplift rate during the Late Miocene [Carter et al., 2000]. Inferred denudation rates changed from about 34 m/m.y. to 390500 m/m.y. coinciding with enhanced progradation of sediments in adjacent offshore basins. The increase in denudation rate coincided with eruption of basalts during the Late Miocene and could be linked with magma underplating and regional uplift related to a thermal anomaly below Indochina [Carter et al., 2000; Hoang and Flower, 1998]. 4.3.4. Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java. There are indications of uplift, inversion, or more significant orogenic contraction, from many parts of southern Sundaland. In the Late Neogene there was significant deformation in Sumatra, Java and Borneo resulting in widespread elevation [e.g. Pertamina BPPKA, 1996a; 1996b; 1996c]. For example, on the west side of the Malay Peninsula are the Mergui and Sumatra

Basins, which received sediment from the Malay Peninsula in the Oligocene and Early Miocene. In both Sumatra and Java there is evidence of significant folding and thrusting during the Neogene [Eubank and Makki, 1981; Matthews and Bransden, 1995; Pertamina BPPKA, 1996a; 1996b; 1996c; Petronas, 1999; Williams and Eubank, 1995; Williams et al., 1995]. In many areas these were more profound events than suggested by the term inversion but their cause is not obvious. They are difficult to explain in terms of regional plate motions, which suggest relatively continuous subduction at the SundaJava Trenches. It suggests variation in the strength of coupling between the overriding and downgoing plates. 4.3.5. North Borneo. After collision of South China continental fragments with the former active margin in NE Borneo (Plate 7) sediments were deposited in basins above the collision-related unconformity. Later thrusting and folding began in the Middle Miocene [Hazebroek and Tan, 1993; Hutchison et al., 2000; Morley et al., 2003; Petronas, 1999; Sandal, 1996]. In eastern Borneo inversion in the Kutai Basin (Plate 7) began in the Early Miocene, not driven by deformation to the east as often assumed [e.g. McClay et al., 2000; van de Weerd and Armin, 1992], but by events within Borneo [Calvert, 2000a; Calvert and Hall, 2003; Hall, 2002; Hall and Wilson, 2000]. Inversion moved from west to east during the Early and Middle Miocene [Ferguson and McClay, 1997; McClay et al., 2000; Moss et al., 1997]. In SE Borneo inversion of the Barito Basin and uplift of the adjacent Meratus Mountains occurred episodically from the Late Miocene to Pleistocene [Mason et al., 1993; Satyana et al., 1999]. NE Borneo is a region in which there has been significant Neogene uplift and denudation. It includes the highest mountain in SE Asia, the 4100 m granite peak of Mt Kinabalu. Intrusion ages of about 14 Ma [Jacobsen, 1970; Swauger et al., 1995] indicate rapid uplift, and fission track data indicate 48 km of Late Miocene denudation throughout the Crocker Range [Hutchison et al., 2000; Swauger et al., 1995]. A mantle-driven cause is suggested by stratigraphic, structural and geochemical studies. 5. ORIGIN OF CENOZOIC BASINS OF SUNDALAND 5.1. Strike-slip Origin The escape tectonics model for Asia originated in observations made in the 1970s which identified major strike-slip faults such as the Sagaing, Three Pagodas, Mae Ping and Red River Faults, radiating from eastern Tibet [e.g. Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975; Tapponnier et al., 1986]. The model suggests that large crustal blocks have been ejected laterally from the IndiaAsia collision zone, and deformation is concentrated on a few major strike-slip faults. Subsequently, many of

20

SUNDALAND BASINS

the Cenozoic basins in Sundaland (offshore Vietnam, Thailand, and the Gulf of Thailand) were interpreted to be pull-apart basins controlled by strike-slip faults [e.g. Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975; Polachan et al., 1991; Tapponnier et al., 1986]. The escape tectonics model is attractive in its simplicity and the way in which it relates disparate major tectonic blocks, structures and basins in the region. By the 1990s it became possible to test the model as a result of investigating the relationships between major strike-slip faults and Cenozoic sedimentary basins, particularly those of offshore Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand and onshore Thailand [Matthews et al., 1997; Morley, 2002a; Rangin et al., 1995]. The largest of the strike-slip faults is the Red River Shear Zone, which was initially suggested to have about 1000 km of left-lateral displacement, later reduced to about 500 km [Briais et al., 1993; Lee and Lawver, 1995]. The only way to terminate such large displacement fault systems is at major plate boundaries; hence the South China Sea has been interpreted as a giant pull-apart at the tip of the Red River Shear Zone, the Mae Ping Fault has been interpreted to terminate in a subduction zone off NW Borneo, and the Sagaing Fault to terminate at the Andaman Sea spreading center [see reviews in Leloup et al., 2001; Morley, 2002a]. The South China Sea oceanic crust forms a wedge that tapers to the WSW in which there was a gradual decrease in the amount of sea floor spreading towards the inferred offshore prolongation of the Red River Shear Zone. Consequently, the relationship between the South China Sea and the Red River Shear Zone as a giant pull-apart does not work geometrically [Morley, 2002a]. Furthermore, details of the geometry and timing of extensional faults in the passive margin continental crust indicate there is not a simple pull-apart relationship with the Red River Shear Zone [Matthews et al., 1997; Morley, 2002a; Rangin et al., 1995]. The escape tectonics model relates South China Sea oceanfloor spreading to Red River Fault motion [Leloup et al., 2001; Replumaz and Tapponnier, 2003] but does not address the mechanism of earlier continental extension. The model also eliminates the Proto-South China Sea by linking thrusting in NW Borneo to movements on the Mae Ping Fault [Leloup et al., 2001]. This is not only geometrically unsatisfactory [Morley, 2002a] but also does not explain the diachronous cessation of thrusting along the NW Borneo margin. Moreover, the Mae Ping Fault cannot be traced across the Vietnam margin, South China Sea and into NW Borneo. An alternative single driving mechanism for South China Sea spreading is slab-pull [Hall, 1996; 2002]. In this interpretation, subduction of the Proto-South China Sea oceanic crust beneath Borneo during the Paleogene initially drove continental extension to the north, and later to sea-floor spreading in the South China Sea (Plate 8). Thus, continental extension and sea floor spreading were the result of the same driving mechanism. However,

although this alternative may account for basins around the South China Sea it does not explain other Sundaland basins. The escape tectonics model emphasizes the rigid nature of the crust and the concentration of deformation on the bounding slip faults. As understanding of internal deformation of crustal blocks has improved, particularly based on satellite images, seismic reflection data, and field observations, it has become apparent that the YunnanLaosThailandoffshore Malaysia part of Sundaland contains a dense network of Cenozoic faults and rift basins. Some have experienced multiple phases of extension and inversion [Ginger et al., 1993; Madon and Ahmad, 1999; Morley et al., 2001; Phillips et al., 1997]. Not only are the supposedly rigid continental blocks highly fractured, in places there is evidence for hot ductile flowing lower crust in metamorphic core complexes, such as the Mogok gneisses of Myanmar [Bertrand et al., 1999], in NW Thailand [Dunning et al., 1995; Rhodes et al., 1997] and near the Red River Shear Zone, Vietnam [Jolivet et al., 2001]. Deformation style and stress evolution are more complex than predicted. Active strike-slip faulting along the offshore extension of the Red River Shear Zone has clearly affected basin structure and orientation in a narrow zone close to the fault trace [e.g. Lee et al., 2001; Matthews et al., 1997; Rangin et al., 1995; Zhou et al., 1995; Zhu et al., 1999], but the effects are local not regional. Elsewhere, as discussed above, the evidence for strike-slip control on basin formation is weak to absent. Argument continues about the significance, age, sense of displacement and amounts of movement on all the major strike-slip faults [e.g. Briais et al., 1993; Leloup et al., 1995; Morley, 2002a; Rangin et al., 1995; Roques et al., 1997a; 1997b; Taylor and Hayes, 1983; Wang and Burchfiel, 1997]. Nonetheless, despite criticism of the escape tectonics model, major strike-slip faults were important in the evolution of Sundaland. However, they are not the explanation of all aspects of its tectonic evolution. 5.2. Rift Origin Most basins appear to be rift basins capped by thermal sag or passive margin sequences, depending upon proximity to the South China Sea oceanic crust [e.g. Cole and Crittenden, 1997; Lee et al., 2001; Longley, 1997; Matthews et al., 1997; Zhou et al., 1995; Zhu et al., 1999]. However, an explanation of basin origin simply by rifting has two particular problems: the great depths of many of the basins, and the orientation of the rifts. A possible solution is that the basins are the dynamic result of subduction. Lithgow-Bertelloni and Gurnis [1997] argued that a large component of vertical motion of Sundaland may be a dynamic topographic consequence of subduction and estimated that more than 1000 m of subsidence may be dynam-

Plate 8. Reconstructions to illustrate principal forces acting on Sundaland based on model of Hall [2002]. In the Oligocene (30 Ma) there was extrusion of Indochina blocks due to IndiaAsia collision, slab-pull due to subduction of the Proto-South China Sea, and minor movements of the SundaJava subduction hinge. The net result was oblique extension within Sundaland. In the Early Miocene (20 Ma) AustraliaSE Asia collision began in Sulawesi and led to rotation of Borneo, and movements of the SundaJava subduction hinge. In northern Borneo there was underthrusting of South China continental crust, and crustal thickening. The net result was inversion and orogenic shortening in different parts of Sundaland. In the Late Miocene (10 Ma) there was rollback of the SundaJavaBanda subduction hinge in the Andaman region and in the SE to form the Banda Sea, and subduction of the South China Sea beneath Luzon. Rotation of the Philippine Sea Plate led to transpression at the eastern margin. The net result was renewed extension in some parts of Sundaland, at the same time as exhumation and uplift in other parts of the region. Throughout the Cenozoic there would also have been variations in forces due to arrival at the subduction zone of thickened crust, deformation to the north due to IndiaAsia collision, and collisions in the east. Unlike many other continental regions, the stresses acting on the region changed significantly over short periods, leading to multiple phases of rifting with different orientations and later multiple phases of inversion and orogenic deformation, also with different principal stress orientations.

HALL AND MORLEY 21

22

SUNDALAND BASINS

ically maintained by mantle flow. Although accepting that their model of mantle flow predicted dynamic topography much larger than observed they argued that it predicted the correct sign of flooding and exposure: emergence in the Paleocene and inundation over the past ~30 m.y.. This claim is unconvincing. Lithgow-Bertelloni and Gurnis [1997] infer an over-simplified and large-scale pattern of differential vertical motion over the entire region, for which they cite Ronov et al. [1989], although as described above, the pattern of uplift and subsidence is very much more complex. Lithgow-Bertelloni and Gurnis [1997] accept that their failure to predict the correct vertical motions for India and South America may arise from ambiguities in their tectonic reconstructions. PreCenozoic reconstructions of SE Asia are far more uncertain than those for India and South America, although it is clear that SE Asia was surrounded by subduction zones throughout the Mesozoic as well as the Cenozoic. Nonetheless, a dynamic topographic effect could explain why many basins become fully marine relatively late in the Neogene when global sea level was falling although it is difficult to see how dynamic topography can account for the complex distribution, size, scale, depth and timing of basin subsidence in Sundaland. In contrast, Wheeler and White [2000; 2002] suggested that dynamic topographic effects were insignificant in East and SE Asian basins and that there was little or no anomalous subsidence in Sundaland. They argued that the wavelength and amplitude of subsidence were inconsistent with a dynamic topographic explanation. For the continental region of East and SE Asia that they analyzed, which extended from the Japan Sea south to the Malay-Penyu Basins, they interpreted a pattern of north to south and east to west migration of rift initiation and marine inundation. Wheeler and White [2002] concluded that lithospheric stretching and cooling predominantly controls subsidence of continental sedimentary basins in SE Asia. As noted above, we consider the subsidence of several basins to be much greater than expected for the extension observed. However, this anomalous subsidence seems to be relatively late (as also observed by Wheeler and White [2002] for offshore Vietnam) and is not predicted by dynamic topographic models. Furthermore, if the whole of Sundaland is considered there is no north to south migration of rift initiation, rather the opposite, or possibly a progression towards the Sundaland interior. As with mantle-driven subsidence models, a simple rifting model cannot account for the complex distribution, size, scale, depth and timing of basin subsidence. In particular, a simple model of lithospheric stretching begs the question of what was driving extension. We suggest that there are three components required for a more comprehensive explanation of basin formation. A better model of an unusual crust and lithosphere, a better understanding of the balance of forces on

the region, and a better understanding of how these forces changed with time. The anomalous orientations of the rifts, the evidence for multiple phases of rifting, and the regional onset and termination of extensional events, suggest that to fully understand the Sundaland rift basins it is necessary to look beyond individual driving mechanisms in different areas. Published finite element models for the region have focused on the indentor effect of India on regional stresses [Huchon et al., 1994; Kong and Bird, 1997; Seyferth and Henk, 2004]. However, these tend to produce an oversimplified stress pattern that only partially explains the known sedimentary basin history of multiple extension and inversion events (see reviews by Morley [2001; 2002a]). We suggest that it is particularly important to consider the forces acting at the plate boundaries (Plate 8) which varied significantly throughout the Cenozoic because of the complexity of events in the region [Hall, 2002]. The variable nature of the plate boundaries, temporally and spatially, makes Sundaland a difficult region to model but could be achieved using finite element modeling based on regional tectonic models. In the adjacent Australian plate the modern stress pattern has been well matched by finite element modeling of stresses at the plate boundaries [Hillis and Reynolds, 2000; Reynolds et al., 2002] and this approach would help understand the origin of the Sundaland basins. Some of the important plate tectonic events that affected the boundary and interior of Sundaland during the Cenozoic [Hall, 2002] that would have affected stress patterns include the following events. Early Cenozoic: convergence between Burma and Thailand as India passed the Burma block. Possible thickening of the ShanThai block and local source of buoyancy forces. Eocene onwards: progressive shortening and thickening of HimalayanTibetan plateau region. EoceneEarly Miocene: slab pull of Proto-South China Sea. OligoceneEarly Miocene: ridge push from South China sea spreading center. Miocene: counter-clockwise rotation of Borneo. Middle MioceneRecent: collision of Australia with SE Sundaland. Late Miocene: rise of Tibetan Plateau and propagation of uplift into the northern part of Sundaland. Middle MioceneRecent: buoyant uplift of NE Borneo with possible loss of lithospheric root. Cenozoic: continuous subduction at SundaJava Trench, although with variation in coupling between upper and lower plates. Variation in subductionrelated forces would also have been influenced by arrival at the subduction zone of thickened crust, such as the Ninety-East Ridge, the Investigator Fracture Zone and the distal parts of the Bengal Fan. Late MioceneRecent: rollback of subduction hinge east of SE Sundaland to form the Banda Sea. Plate 8 illustrates in a qualitative way how changing forces acting on the whole region could account for the different orientation of rifts and their timing.

HALL AND MORLEY

23

We have drawn attention above to the evidence for the unusual character of Sundaland crust and lithosphere. Some other unusual features, such as depths of sedimentary basins may be partly accounted for by varying some of the assumptions in conventional stretching models, such as thicker crust and thinner lithosphere, at the time of rifting. However, high heat flow may mean that models also need to incorporate a more complex model of the lithosphere. It is now recognized that continental crust is capable of flow when its temperature is over 400-500C [McKenzie and Jackson, 2002; McKenzie et al., 2000]. To have most of the lower crust capable of flow either geothermal gradients must be elevated, and/or the crust must be considerably thicker than 30 km. Both are potential factors that would increase the effect of sediment loading-driven subsidence, which could account for the unusually deep basins and the relative importance of the thermal subsidence. 5.3. Deep Basins Many rift-post rift basins around the world modeled using variants of the McKenzie model have problems matching the amount of extension with the amount of thermal subsidence. A number of explanations have been advanced for such inconsistencies, such as poorly constrained mantle physical properties [White, 1990], incorrect estimation of upper crustal extension due to neglect of extension on faults which are below the resolution of seismic reflection data [Marrett and Allmendinger, 1991; 1992], and non-uniform stretching of the lithosphere [Hellinger and Sclater, 1983]. Modeling of the Malay and Pattani Basins suggests non-uniform stretching. The solution satisfies the observations but provides no reason why non-uniform stretching has occurred. Watcharanantakul and Morley [2000] suggested subduction roll-back could cause non-uniform stretching, but this would require the effects of subduction roll-back to occur in a region more than 1000 km from the trench. Non-uniform thinning of the mantle lithosphere could be caused by a mantle plume, but there is no volcanic or domal uplift evidence for a plume. In Sundaland the problem of very deep basins is not just confined to post-rift thermal subsidence. The Myanmar Central Basin, NW and NE Borneo Basins are not post-rift basins, and in most cases there is little or no evidence of control of subsidence by deep basement faults. Although there are tectonic reasons for the basin location and initiation, we suggest that the main reason for the great depth is enhancement of tectonic subsidence by sediment loading. The standard models for Airy and flexural isostasy do not result in such extreme subsidence in shallow marine and continental settings [e.g. McKenzie, 1978; Steckler and Watts, 1978] but the initial assumptions of such models may be varied if there is flow of the lower crust (Figure 7). Rapid post-rift subsidence in deep basins

Figure 7. Model for subsidence of super-deep basins in which tectonic subsidence is significantly enhanced by lower crustal flow away from the site of sediment loading. To create isostatic balance with a compensation depth within the mantle, some mantle uplift at the base of the crust is required.

such as the Pattani and Malay Basins would require 1) initiation of post-rift subsidence by cooling [McKenzie, 1978], 2) a lower crust capable of flow but in pressure equilibrium (i.e. initially no tendency for flow from the rift flanks towards the rift center after the syn-rift stage has finished) and 3) an influx of sediment into the basin which triggers flow of the lower crust to accommodate the load (analogous to synformal depocentres associated with mobile salt or shale basins). A mechanism may be required to initiate regional flow, for example creation of space by crustal thinning around the South China Sea spreading center, or subduction rollback at the Andaman Trench. If flow of the lower crust can occur then the standard assumption that the thickness and density of the crust can be eliminated from the isostatic equations, because they do not change during loading, becomes invalid. The SE Asian crust under the rift basins is hot, with conditions favorable for the lower crust to flow. Such flow would provide a mechanism for accommodating large thicknesses of sediment, and avoid isostatic imbalance. However flow of the lower crust alone still does not produce isostatic compensation. For a 10 km thick sedimentary basin, compensation of the upper 35 km of section (2.4 g/cm3 sediment replacing 2.7 g/cm3 upper crust) is critical. In most circumstances isostatic compensation cannot occur within the crust, but requires buoyancy forces to drive mantle uplift of 35 km beneath the basin (displacing the flowing lower crust) to achieve isostatic compensation (3.3 g/cm3 mantle replacing 2.9 g/cm3 lower crust; Figure 7). We suggest that the deep SE Asian basins pose real questions about the assumptions behind widely accepted basin and isostatic models and understanding SE Asian basins requires more than application of models developed for simpler, more stable, regions. 6. CONCLUSIONS The geological contrast between Sundaland and the IndiaAsia collision zone has produced a similar contrast in

24

SUNDALAND BASINS

ideas about the importance of key geological features. The collision, with its major themes of crustal flow, escape tectonics, massive uplift, sediment supply, and climatic influence is so well-known that there is a tendency to assume it was the major influence on all of the very large surrounding region. Sundaland by contrast is a much less obviously homogeneous region with small spreading centers opening and closing near its margins, one major and several minor subduction margins, small collisional events, numerous rifts, and a few very large strike-slip faults. Tectonic events within Sundaland have not obviously influenced IndiaAsia collision, whereas IndiaAsia collision events may have affected Sundaland. The Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau dominate such a large area, and have such high topography that in many tectonic models they are regarded as the only significant regions driving the Cenozoic tectonics of Indochina and further south, regardless of whether the driving mechanism is escape tectonics of rigid crustal blocks or flow of lower crust. The topography of northern Indochina and China has been related to flow of ductile lower crust away from the Tibetan Plateau since the Late Miocene [Clark and Royden, 2000]. However, in Thailand much of the present-day topography appears to have been established earlier, during the Paleogene to Early Miocene. CretaceousPaleogene deformation in the LanpingSimao fold belt of NE Thailand, and OligoceneEarly Miocene metamorphic core complex uplift in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, indicate that significant topography was generated by tectonic events within Indochina prior to the outwards propagation of Tibetan Plateau topography. The topographic expression of Sundaland is a result of several different tectonic events, and is not just the result of IndiaAsia collision or lower crustal flow from the Tibetan Plateau. There is a widespread perception that Sundaland was a stable area during the Cenozoic and rigid plate motion for Sundaland is often inferred [e.g. Replumaz et al., 2004; Replumaz and Tapponnier, 2003]. GPS measurements have even been used to suggest that Sundaland rotated clockwise as a rigid block during the last 810 million years [e.g. Rangin et al., 1999]. In contrast, paleomagnetic results indicate large counterclockwise rotations of Borneo and other parts of Sundaland [Fuller et al., 1999; Richter et al., 1999; Schmidtke et al., 1990] but which, if modelled as a single block, result in overlap with Indochina in reconstructions. As argued above, the region has been very far from stable, and it cannot have behaved as a single rigid block during most of the Cenozoic. The considerable evidence for a complex pattern of subsidence and elevation requires a much more complex tectonic model for the region with significant internal deformation of Sundaland [Hall, 1996; Hall, 2002]. Much of the character of northern Sundaland may be due to small collisional events that were precursors to the main IndiaAsia collision, includ-

ing left-lateral movements of the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas Faults. The known differences in nature and timing of basin formation and inversion suggest a complex and shifting pattern of uplift and subsidence with time. The region is one of relatively high heat flow, and gravity observations suggest a thin elastic thickness for the lithosphere. Tomography shows unusually low velocities at shallow depths for a continental region suggesting a thin, warm and weak lithosphere. Weak and warm continental lithosphere may be the result of long-term subduction beneath Sundaland. Although subduction may be a driving force, we do not suggest that dynamic topographic effects are the explanation. If there is a dynamic topographic signal it is small and long wavelength in comparison to the patterns of vertical motions within the region. On the other hand, the unusual depths of sedimentary basins, their orientation and ages require explanations more complex than offered by conventional stretching models. We have suggested above that these require a better model of an unusual crust and lithosphere, a better understanding of the balance of forces, and a better understanding of how these forces changed with time. Lower crustal flow offers an explanation of the depths of basins but basin initiation and inversion requires a changing stress field which caused the variations in timing, distribution and amounts of vertical and horizontal motions within Sundaland. We suggest this was the result of changing intraplate stresses which reflect the changing pattern of forces at the plate edges, driven by long-term subduction, acting on a very weak and probably thin lithosphere. The complexity of the background plate-driven tectonic events suggest that a continuum model may offer a better description of deformation than a rigid block model. Analysis of the entire region and the forces acting on it over time [Cloetingh and Wortel, 1986; Richardson, 1992; Richardson et al., 1979] may provide a better understanding than shoehorning the problems into an IndiaAsia solution. To fully test whether the rift basin pattern can be understood by finite element modeling, stresses originating from all the plate boundaries surrounding Sundaland and from topography must be considered to see how the effects sum and vary across the whole plate [e.g. Reynolds et al., 2002]. Local sources of stress will exert a stronger influence closer to the source (e.g. the indentor influence in the NW, subduction in the west and SW, slab pull and ridge push in the east, collisions in the east), and the stress magnitude and orientation will be the sum of different forces plus the effects of variable torques acting on the plate [e.g. Coblentz and Richardson, 1995; Richardson, 1992; Zoback et al., 1989]. Stresses and torques will vary spatially and temporally in response to such factors as collision, changing obliquity of subduction, and transition from plate boundaries involving oceanic crust to continental crust.

HALL AND MORLEY

25

The sedimentary basins of the region, onshore and offshore also contain a record of tectonics, in the changing volumes and character of sediment. There are currently few good estimates of volumes of sediment supplied at different times, and there are few provenance studies which could identify the importance of the Asian input into basins in the region. Much of this record is potentially there, as a result of the exploration for hydrocarbons in the region, but relatively little of it is yet in the public domain. There remains a final important problem, which is that of timing because, for example, it is not possible to identify the causes of basin formation unless the age of basin initiation is adequately dated. Most of the Sundaland basins have an early and extended terrestrial history, and older sequences often contain few fossils which have limited biostratigraphic value [see, for example, Cole and Crittenden, 1997], beside being beyond the reach of drilling. Similar, but greater, problems surround dating of uplift. In order to understand the region it is vital to have better dating of events, in particular by thermochronological methods.
Acknowledgments. Financial support to RH has been provided at different times by NERC, the Royal Society, the London University Central Research Fund, and the London University and Royal Holloway SE Asia Research Groups, supported by a number of industrial companies. Work in Indonesia has been facilitated by GRDC, Lemigas and LIPI. We thank Wim Spakman for help in producing Plate 1. Financial support to CKM has been provided at various times by the Universiti of Brunei Darussalam, The Royal Society and Brunei Shell Berhad (BSB). Subsurface data from Thailand and Brunei Basins have been provided by PTTEP, Unocal, Thai Shell, TFE, EGAT, Banpu Mines and Lanna Lignite.

REFERENCES
Ahrendt, H., C. Chonglakmani, B.T. Hansen, and D. Helmcke, Geochronological cross-section through northern Thailand, J. SE Asian Earth Sci., 8, 207217, 1993. Artemieva, I.M., and W.D. Mooney, Mantle heat flow in stable continental regions: A global study, Eos Trans. AGU, 80, F 967, 1999. Artemieva, I.M., and W.D. Mooney, Thermal thickness and evolution of Precambrian lithosphere: A global study, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 16,38716,414, 2001. Balaguru, A., G.J. Nichols, and R. Hall, The origin of the circular basins of Sabah, Malaysia, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia, 46, 335351, 2003. Barley, M.E., A.L. Pickard, K. Zaw, P. Rak, and M.G. Doyle, Jurassic to Miocene magmatism and metamorphism in the Mogok metamorphic belt and the India-Eurasia collision in Myanmar, Tectonics, 22, doi:10.1029/2002TC001398, 2003. Ben-Avraham, Z., and K.O. Emery, Structural framework of Sunda Shelf, AAPG Bull., 57, 23232366, 1973. Bergman, S.C., D.Q. Coffield, J.P. Talbot, and R.J. Garrard, Tertiary tectonic and magmatic evolution of western Sulawesi and the

Makassar Strait, Indonesia: evidence for a Miocene continentcontinent collision, in Tectonic Evolution of SE Asia, edited by R. Hall, and D.J. Blundell, pp. 391430, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1996. Bertrand, G., C. Rangin, H. Maluski, T.A. Han, M. Thein, O. Myint, W. Maw, and S. Lwin, Cenozoic metamorphism along the Shan scarp (Myanmar): evidences for ductile shear along the Sagaing fault or the northward migration of the eastern Himalayan syntaxis?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 915918, 1999. Bijwaard, H., W. Spakman, and E.R. Engdahl, Closing the gap between regional and global travel time tomography, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 3005530078, 1998. Bishop, W.P., Structure, stratigraphy and hydrocarbons offshore southern Kalimantan, Indonesia, AAPG Bull., 64, 3758, 1980. Briais, A., P. Patriat, and P. Tapponnier, Updated interpretation of magnetic anomalies and sea floor spreading stages in the South China Sea: Implications for the Tertiary tectonics of Southeast Asia, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 62996328, 1993. Bustin, R.M., and A. Chonchawalit, Formation and tectonic evolution of the Pattani Basin, Gulf of Thailand, Int. Geol. Rev., 37, 866892, 1995. Calvert, S.J., The Cenozoic evolution of the Lariang and Karama basins, Sulawesi, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 27th Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 505511, 2000a. Calvert, S.J., The Cenozoic geology of the Lariang and Karama regions, western Sulawesi, Indonesia, Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 2000b. Calvert, S.J., and R. Hall, The Cenozoic geology of the Lariang and Karama regions, Western Sulawesi: new insight into the evolution of the Makassar Straits region, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 29th Annual Convention, Jakarta , pp. 501517, 2003. Cardwell, R.K., and B.L. Isacks, Geometry of the subducted lithosphere beneath the Banda Sea in eastern Indonesia from seismicity and fault plane solutions, J. Geophys. Res., 83, 28252838, 1978. Carter, A., D. Roques, and C.S. Bristow, Denudation history of onshore central Vietnam: constraints on the Cenozoic evolution of the western margin of the South China Sea, Tectonophysics, 322, 265277, 2000. Charusiri, P., A.H. Clark, E. Farrar, D. Archibald, and B. Charusiri, Granite belts in Thailand: evidence from the 40Ar/39Ar geochronological and geological syntheses, J. SE Asian Earth Sci., 8, 127136, 1993. Chen, P.P.H., Z.Y. Chen, and Q.M. Zhang, Sequence stratigraphy and continental margin development of the northwest shelf of the South China Sea, AAPG Bull., 77, 842862, 1993. Clark, M.C., Late Cenozoic Uplift of Southeastern Tibet, Ph.D. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2003. Clark, M.K., and L.H. Royden, Topographic ooze: Building the eastern margin of Tibet by lower crustal flow, Geology, 28, 703706, 2000. Clark, M.K., L.M. Schoenbohm, L.H. Royden, K.X. Whipple, B.C. Burchfiel, X. Zhang, W. Tang, E. Wang, and L. Chen, Surface uplift, tectonics, and erosion of eastern Tibet from large-scale

26 SUNDALAND BASINS drainage patterns, Tectonics, 23, doi:10.1029/2002TC001402, 2004. Cloetingh, S., and R. Wortel, Stress in the Indo-Australian plate, Tectonophysics, 132, 4967, 1986. Cloke, I.R., J. Milsom, and D.J.B. Blundell, Implications of gravity data from east Kalimantan and the Makassar Straits: a solution to the origin of the Makassar Straits?, J. Asian Earth Sci., 17, 6178, 1999. Cobbing, E.J., D.I.J. Mallick, P.E.J. Pitfield, and L.H. Teoh, The granites of the Southeast Asian tin belt, J. Geol. Soc. London, 143, 537550, 1986. Cobbing, E.J., P.E.J. Pitfield, D.P.F. Darbyshire, and D.I.J. Mallick, The granites of the South-East Asian tin belt, Overseas Mem. British Geol. Surv., 10, 1369, 1992. Coblentz, D.D., and R.M. Richardson, Statistical trends in the intraplate stress field, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 20,24520,255, 1995. Cole, J.M., and S. Crittenden, Early Tertiary basin formation and the development of lacustrine and quasi-lacustrine/marine source rocks on the Sunda Shelf of SE Asia., in Petroleum Geology of Southeast Asia, edited by A.J. Fraser, S.J. Matthews, and R.W. Murphy, pp. 147183, Geological Society of London, 1997. Crevello, P.D., The great Crocker submarine fan: A world-class foredeep turbidite system, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 28th Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 378407, 2001. Dang, H.N., and C. Sladen, Petroleum Geology of offshore Da Nang, Central Vietnam, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australia, edited by J.V .C. Howes, and R.A. Noble, pp. 449468, Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1997. Douglas, I., Man, vegetation and the sediment yield of rivers, Nature, 215, 925928, 1967. Douglas, I., Hydrological investigations of forest disturbance and land cover impacts in South-East Asia: a review, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London Ser. B, 354, 17251738, 1999. Douglas, I., T. Spencer, T. Greer, K. Bidin, W. Sinun, and W.M. Wong, The impact of selective commercial logging on stream hydrology, chemistry and sediment loads in the Ulu Segama Rain Forest, Sabah, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London Ser. B, 335, 397406, 1992. Dunning, G.R., A.S. Macdonald, and S.M. Barr, Zircon and monazite U-Pb dating of the Doi Inthanon core complex, northern Thailand: implications for extension within the Indosinian orogen, Tectonophysics, 251, 197215, 1995. Eubank, R.T., and A.C. Makki, Structural geology of the Central Sumatra back-arc basin, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 10th Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 153196, 1981. Fatt, R.W.H., Petroleum resources, peninsular Malaysia, in The Petroleum Geology and Resources of Malaysia, pp. 253272, Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, 1999. Ferguson, A., and K. McClay, Structural modelling within the Sanga Sanga PSC, Kutei Basin, Kalimantan: its implication to paleochannel orientation studies and timing of hydrocarbon entrapment., in Proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australia, edited by J.V.C. Howes, and R.A. Noble, pp. 727743, Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1997. Fleming, K., P. Johnston, D. Zwartz, Y. Yokoyama, K. Lambeck, and J. Chappell, Refining the eustatic sea-level curve since the last glacial maximum using far- and intermediate-field sites, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 163, 327342, 1998. Flint, S., D.J. Stewart, T. Hyde, E.C.A. Gevers, O.R.F. Dubrule, and E.D. van Riessen, Aspects of reservoir geology and production behaviour of Sirikit Oil Field, Thailand: An integrated study using well and 3-D seismic data, AAPG Bull. , 72 , 12541269, 1988. Fuller, M., J.R. Ali, S.J. Moss, G.M. Frost, B. Richter, and A. Mahfi, Paleomagnetism of Borneo, J. Asian Earth Sci., 17, 324, 1999. Ginger, D.C., Ardjakusumah, R.J. Hedley, and J. Pothecary, Inversion history of the West Natuna basin: examples from the Cumi-Cumi PSC, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 22nd Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 635658, 1993. Gobbett, D.J., and C.S. Hutchison, Geology of the Malay Peninsula (West Malaysia and Singapore), 438 pp., Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1973. Graves, J.E., and D.A. Swauger, Petroleum systems of the Sandakan Basin, Philippines, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australia, edited by J.V.C. Howes, and R.A. Noble, pp. 799813, Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1997. Hall, R., Reconstructing Cenozoic SE Asia, in Tectonic Evolution of SE Asia, edited by R. Hall, and D.J. Blundell, pp. 153184, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1996. Hall, R., Cenozoic geological and plate tectonic evolution of SE Asia and the SW Pacific: computer-based reconstructions, model and animations, J. Asian Earth Sci., 20, 353434, 2002. Hall, R., and G.J. Nichols, Cenozoic sedimentation and tectonics in Borneo: climatic influences on orogenesis, in Sediment Flux to Basins: Causes, Controls and Consequences, edited by S.J. Jones, and L.E. Frostick, pp. 522, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 2002. Hall, R., and M.E.J. Wilson, Neogene sutures in eastern Indonesia, J. Asian Earth Sci., 18, 787814, 2000. Hamilton, W., Tectonics of the Indonesian region, USGS Prof. Paper, 1078, 345 pp., 1979. Haq, B.U., J. Hardenbol, and P.R. Vail, Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the Triassic, Science, 235, 11561167, 1987. Harbury, N.A., M.E. Jones, M.G. Audley-Charles, I. Metcalfe, and K.R. Mohamed, Structural evolution of Mesozoic Peninsular Malaysia, J. Geol. Soc. London, 147, 1126, 1990. Hay, W.W., Detrital sediment fluxes from continents to oceans, Chem. Geol., 145, 287323, 1998. Hayes, D.E., S.S. Nissen, P. Buhl, J. Diebold, B.C. Yao, W.J. Zeng, and Y.Q. Chen, Throughgoing crustal faults along the northern margin of the South China Sea and their role in crustal extension, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 22,43522,446, 1995. Hazebroek, H.P., and D.N.K. Tan, Tertiary tectonic evolution of the NW Sabah continental margin, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia Special Publication, 33, 195210, 1993. Hellinger, S.J., and J.G. Sclater, Some comments on two-layer extension models for the evolution of sedimentary basins, J. Geophys. Res., 88, 82518269, 1983.

HALL AND MORLEY Higgs, R., Gravity anomalies, subsidence history and the tectonic evolution of the Malay and Penyu Basins (offshore Peninsula Malaysia)Discussion, Basin Res., 11, 285290, 1999. Hillis, R.R., and S.D. Reynolds, The Australian stress map, J. Geol. Soc. London, 157, 915921, 2000. Hoang, N., and M. Flower, Petrogenesis of Cenozoic basalts from Vietnam: Implication for origins of a Diffuse igneous province, J. Petrol., 39, 369395, 1998. Hovius, N., Controls on sediment supply by large rivers, in Relative Role of Eustasy, Climate, and Tectonism in Continental Rocks, edited by K.W. Shanley, pp. 316, SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology Special Publication, 1998. Huchon, P., X. Le Pichon, and C. Rangin, Indochina peninsula and the collision of India and Eurasia, Geology, 22, 2730, 1994. Hutchison, C.S., Plutonic activity, in Geology of the Malay Peninsula (West Malaysia and Singapore), edited by D.J. Gobbett, and C.S. Hutchison, pp. 215252, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1973. Hutchison, C.S., Ophiolites in Southeast Asia, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 86, 797806, 1975. Hutchison, C.S., Geological Evolution of South-East Asia, 376 pp., Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics, Clarendon Press, 1989. Hutchison, C.S., The Rajang Accretionary Prism and Lupar Line problem of Borneo, in Tectonic Evolution of SE Asia, edited by R. Hall, and D.J. Blundell, pp. 247261, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1996a. Hutchison, C.S., South-East Asian Oil, Gas, Coal and Mineral Deposits, 265 pp., Oxford Monographs on Geology and Geophysics, Clarendon Press, 1996b. Hutchison, C.S., S.C. Bergman, D.A. Swauger, and J.E. Graves, A Miocene collisional belt in north Borneo: uplift mechanism and isostatic adjustment quantified by thermochronology, J. Geol. Soc. London, 157, 783793, 2000. Jacobsen, G., Geology and mineral resources of the Gunong Kinabalu Area, Sabah, E. Malaysia, Geol. Surv. Malaysia Rep., 8, 1111, 1970. Jardine, E., Dual petroleum systems governing the prolific Pattani Basin, offshore Thailand, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australia, edited by J.V.C. Howes, and R.A. Noble, pp. 351363, Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1997. Jinmin, W., Evaluation and models of Cenozoic sedimentation in the South China Sea, Tectonophysics, 235, 7798, 1994. Johnston, C.R., and C. Bowin, Crustal reaction resulting from the midPliocene to recent continent-island collision in the Timor region, BMR J. Aust. Geol. Geophys., 6, 223243, 1981. Jolivet, L., O. Beyssac, B. Goffe, D. Avigad, C. Lepvrier, H. Maluski, and T.T. Thang, Oligo-Miocene midcrustal subhorizontal shear zone in Indochina, Tectonics, 20, 4657, 2001. Kenyon, C.S., and L.R. Beddoes, Geothermal Gradient Map of Southeast Asia, 50 pp., South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society and Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1977. Kong, X., and P. Bird, Neotectonics of Asia: thin-shell finite-element models with faults, in The Tectonic Evolution of Asia, edited

27

by A. Yin, and T.M. Harrison, pp. 1834, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997. Kornsawan, A., and C.K. Morley, The origin and evolution of complex transfer zones (graben shifts) in conjugate fault systems around the Funan Field, Pattani basin, Gulf of Thailand, J. Struct. Geol., 24, 435449, 2002. Krhenbuhl, R., Magmatism, tin mineralization and tectonics of the Main Range, Malaysian Peninsula: Consequences for the plate tectonic model of Southeast Asia based on Rb-Sr, K-Ar and fission track data, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia, 29, 1100, 1991. Kwan, T.S., R. Krhenbuhl, and E. Jager, Rb-Sr, K-Ar and fissiontrack ages for granites from Penang Island, West Malaysiaan interpretation model for Rb-Sr whole-rock and for actual and experimental mica data, Contrib. Mineral. Petrol., 111, 527542, 1992. Lacassin, R., H. Maluski, P.H. Leloup, P. Tapponnier, C. Hinthong, K. Siribhakdi, S. Chuaviroj, and A. Charoenravat, Tertiary diachronic extrusion and deformation of western Indochina: Structural and 40Ar/39Ar evidence from NW Thailand, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 10,01310,037, 1997. Lebedev, S., and G. Nolet, Upper mantle beneath Southeast Asia from S velocity tomography, J. Geophys. Res. , 108 , doi:10.1029/2000JB000073, 2003. Lee, G.H., K. Lee, and J.S. Watkins, Geologic evolution of the Cuu Long and Nam Con Son basins, offshore southern Vietnam, South China Sea, AAPG Bull., 85, 10551082, 2001. Lee, T.Y., and L.A. Lawver, Cenozoic plate reconstruction of southeast Asia, Tectonophysics, 251, 85139, 1995. Leloup, P.H., N. Arnaud, R. Lacassin, J.R. Kienast, T.M. Harrison, T.T.P. Trong, A. Replumaz, and P. Tapponnier, New constraints on the structure, thermochronology, and timing of the Ailao ShanRed River shear zone, SE Asia, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 66836732, 2001. Leloup, P.H., R. Lacassin, P. Tapponnier, U. Schrer, D.L. Zhong, X.H. Liu, L.S. Zhang, S.C. Ji, and P.T. Trinh, The Ailao ShanRed River shear zone (Yunnan, China), Tertiary transform boundary of Indochina, Tectonophysics, 251, 384, 1995. Levell, B.K., The nature and significance of regional unconformities in the hydrocarbon-bearing Neogene sequences offshore west Sabah, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia, 21, 5590, 1987. Liew, T.C., and M.T. McCulloch, Genesis of granitoid batholiths of Peninsular Malaysia and implications for models of crustal evolution: evidence from a Nd-Sr isotopic zircon study, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 49, 587600, 1985. Liew, T.C., and R.W. Page, U-Pb zircon dating of granitoid plutons from the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, J. Geol. Soc. London, 142, 515526, 1985. Lithgow-Bertelloni, C., and M. Gurnis, Cenozoic subsidence and uplift of continents from time-varying dynamic topography, Geology, 25, 735738, 1997. Lockhart, B.E., O. Chinoroje, C.B. Enomoto, and G.A. Hollomon, Early Tertiary deposition in the southern Pattani Trough, Gulf of Thailand., in Proceedings of the International Conference on Stratigraphy and Tectonic Evolution in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand, pp. 476489, 1997.

28 SUNDALAND BASINS Longley, I.M., The tectonostratigraphic evolution of SE Asia., in Petroleum Geology of Southeast Asia, edited by A.J. Fraser, S.J. Matthews, and R.W. Murphy, pp. 311339, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1997. Ludwig, W., and J.L. Probst, River sediment discharge to the oceans: present-day controls and global budgets, Am. J. Sc., 298, 265295, 1998. Macpherson, C.G., and R. Hall, Timing and tectonic controls on magmatism and ore generation in an evolving orogen: evidence from Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, in The Timing and Location of Major Ore Deposits in an Evolving Orogen, edited by D.J. Blundell, F. Neubauer, and A. von Quadt, pp. 4967, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 2002. Madon, M.B., P. Abolins, M.J.B. Hoesni, and M.B. Ahmad, Malay Basin, in The Petroleum Geology and Resources of Malaysia, pp. 173217, Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, 1999. Madon, M.B., and M.B. Ahmad, Basins in the Straits of Melaka, in The Petroleum Geology and Resources of Malaysia, pp. 237249, Petronas, Kuala Lumpur, 1999. Madon, M.B., and A.B. Watts, Gravity anomalies, subsidence history and the tectonic evolution of the Malay and Penyu Basins (offshore Peninsular Malaysia), Basin Res., 10, 375392, 1998. Marrett, R., and R.W. Allmendinger, Estimates of strain due to brittle faulting: Sampling of fault populations, J. Struct. Geol., 13, 735738, 1991. Marrett, R., and R.W. Allmendinger, Amount of extension on small faults: An example from the Viking Graben, Geology, 20, 4750, 1992. Mason, A.D.M., J.C. Haebig, and R.L. McAdoo, A fresh look at the Barito Basin, Kalimantan, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 22nd Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 589606, 1993. Matthews, S.J., and P.J.E. Bransden, Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic tectono-stratigraphic development of the East Java Sea Basin, Indonesia, Mar. Petroleum Geol., 12, 499510, 1995. Matthews, S.J., A.J. Fraser, S. Lowe, S.P. Todd, and F.J. Peel, Structure, stratigraphy and petroleum geology of the SE Nam Con Son Basin, offshore Vietnam, in Petroleum Geology of Southeast Asia, edited by A.J. Fraser, S.J. Matthews, and R.W. Murphy, pp. 89106, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1997. McCarthy, A.J., and C.F. Elders, Cenozoic deformation in Sumatra: Oblique subduction and the development of the Sumatran Fault System., in Petroleum Geology of Southeast Asia, edited by A.J. Fraser, S.J. Matthews, and R.W. Murphy, pp. 355363, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1997. McClay, K., T. Dooley, A. Ferguson, and J. Poblet, Tectonic evolution of the Sanga Sanga Block, Mahakam Delta, Kalimantan, Indonesia, AAPG Bull., 84, 765786, 2000. McKenzie, D., and J.A. Jackson, Conditions for flow in the continental crust, Tectonics, 21, 5-15-7, 2002. McKenzie, D.P., Some remarks on the development of sedimentary basins, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 40, 2532, 1978. McKenzie, D.P., P.B. Gans, and E.L. Miller, Characteristics and consequences of flow in the lower crust, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 11,02911,046, 2000. McLennan, S.M., Weathering and global denudation, J. Geol., 101, 295303, 1993. Metcalfe, I., Allochthonous terrane processes in Southeast Asia, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London Ser. A, 331, 625640, 1990. Metcalfe, I., Pre-Cretaceous evolution of SE Asian Terranes, in Tectonic Evolution of SE Asia, edited by R. Hall, and D.J. Blundell, pp. 97122, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1996. Mtivier, F., Y. Gaudemer, P. Tapponnier, and M. Klein, Mass accumulation rates in Asia during the Cenozoic, Geophys. J. Int., 137, 280318, 1999. Milliman, J.D., K.L. Farnsworth, and C.S. Albertin, Flux and fate of fluvial sediments leaving large islands in the East Indies, Netherlands J. Sea Res., 41, 97107, 1999. Milliman, J.D., and R.H. Meade, World-wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans, J. Geol., 91, 121, 1983. Milliman, J.D., and J.P.M. Syvitski, Geomorphic/tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean: the importance of small mountainous rivers, J. Geol., 100, 525544, 1992. Mitchell, A.H.G., Cretaceous-Cenozoic tectonic events in the western Myanmar (Burma) Assam region, J. Geol. Soc. London, 150, 10891102, 1993. Mitchell, A.H.G., T. Hiang, and N. Htay, Mesozoic orogenies along the Mandalay-Yangon margin of the Shan Plateau, in Symposium on Geology of Thailand, 2631 August 2002, Bangkok , pp. 136149, Department of Mineral Resources Thailand, 2002. Molnar, P., and P. Tapponnier, Cenozoic tectonics of Asia: effects of a continental collision, Science, 189, 419426, 1975. Morley, C.K., Combined escape tectonics and subduction rollbackbackarc extension: a model for the Tertiary rift basins in Thailand, Malaysia and Laos, J. Geol. Soc. London, 158, 461474, 2001. Morley, C.K., A tectonic model for the Tertiary evolution of strikeslip faults and rift basins in SE Asia, Tectonophysics, 347, 189215, 2002a. Morley, C.K., Tectonic settings of continental extensional provinces and their impact on sedimentation and hydrocarbon prospectivity, in Sedimentation in Continental Rifts, edited by R.W. Renaut, and G.M. Ashley, pp. 2353, 2002b. Morley, C.K., Nested strike-slip duplexes and other evidence for Late Cretaceous-Paleogene transpressional tectonics before and during India-Eurasia collision, in Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia, J. Geol. Soc. London, in press, 2004. Morley, C.K., S. Back, P. van Rensbergen, P. Crevello, and J.J. Lambiase, Characteristics of repeated, detached, Miocene-Pliocene tectonic inversion events, in a large delta province on an active margin, Brunei Darussalam, Borneo, J. Struct. Geol. , 25 , 11471169, 2003. Morley, C.K., N. Woganan, N. Sankumarn, T.B. Hoon, A. Alief, and M. Simmons, Late Oligocene-Recent stress evolution in rift basins of northern and central Thailand: implications for escape tectonics, Tectonophysics, 334, 115150, 2001. Morley, R.J., Palynological evidence for Tertiary plant dispersals in the SE Asian region in relation to plate tectonics and climate, in Biogeography and Geological Evolution of SE Asia, edited by R.

HALL AND MORLEY Hall, and J.D. Holloway, pp. 211234, Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1998. Morley, R.J., Origin and Evolution of Tropical Rain Forests, 362 pp., John Wiley, 2000. Moss, S.J., J. Chambers, I. Cloke, A. Carter, D. Satria, J.R. Ali, and S. Baker, New observations on the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the Tertiary Kutai Basin, East Kalimantan, in Petroleum Geology of Southeast Asia, edited by A.J. Fraser, S.J. Matthews, and R.W. Murphy, pp. 395416, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1997. Moss, S.J., and J.L.C. Chambers, Tertiary facies architecture in the Kutai Basin, Kalimantan, Indonesia, J. Asian Earth Sci., 17, 157 181, 1999. Mouret, C., H. Heggemann, J. Gouadain, and S. Krisadasima, Geological history of the siliciclastic Mesozoic strata of the Khorat Group in the Phu Phan Range area, Northeastern Thailand, in Proceedings International Symposium on Biostratigraphy of Mainland Southeast Asia: Facies and Palaeontology, Chiang Mai, pp. 2349, 1993. Nagoa, T., and S. Uyeda, Heat flow distribution in southeast Asia with consideration of volcanic heat, Tectonophysics, 251, 153161, 1995. OLeary, J., and G.S. Hill, Tertiary basin development in the Southern Central Plains, Thailand, in International Symposium on Intermontane Basins, Geology and Resources, Chiang Mai, Thailand, pp. 254264, 1989. Olson, C.C., and S.L. Dorobek, Comparison of structural styles, regional subsidence patterns, and depositional patterns across the Nam Con Son and Cuu Long Basins, offshore southeast Vietnam, in AAPG Annual Meeting Abstracts, pp. 109, New Orleans, 2000. Pertamina BPPKA, Petroleum Geology of Indonesian Basins. Volume I: North Sumatra Basin, 85 pp., 1996a. Pertamina BPPKA, Petroleum Geology of Indonesian Basins. Volume II: Central Sumatra Basins, 232 pp., 1996b. Pertamina BPPKA, Petroleum Geology of Indonesian Basins. Volume X: South Sumatra Basins, 81 pp., 1996c. Petronas, The Petroleum Geology and Resources of Malaysia, 665 pp., 1999. Phillips, S., L. Little, E. Michael, and V . Odell, Sequence stratigraphy of Tertiary petroleum systems in the West Natuna Basin, Indonesia, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australia, edited by J.V.C. Howes, and R.A. Noble, pp. 381401, Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1997. Pigott, J.D., and N. Sattayarak, Aspects of sedimentary basin evolution assessed through tectonic subsidence analysis. Example: northern Gulf of Thailand, J. SE Asian Earth Sci., 8, 407420, 1993. Pivnik, D.A., J. Nahm, R.S. Tucker, G.O. Smith, K. Nyein, M. Nyunt, and P.H. Maung, Polyphase deformation in a fore-arc/back-arc basin, Salin subbasin, Myanmar (Burma), AAPG Bull. , 82 , 18371856, 1998. Polachan, S., S. Pradidtan, C. Tongtaow, S. Janmaha, K. Intarawijitr, and C. Sangsuwan, Development of Cenozoic basins in Thailand, Mar. Petroleum Geol., 8, 8497, 1991.

29

Pollack, H.N., S. Hurter, and J.R. Johnson, The new global heat flow data compilation, Eos Trans. AGU, 71, 1604, 1990. Pollack, H.N., S.J. Hurter, and J.R. Johnson, Heat flow from the Earths interior: analysis of the global data set, Rev. Geophys., 31, 267280, 1993. Praditan, S., Characteristics and controls of lacustrine deposits of some Tertiary basins in Thailand, in International Symposium of Intermontane Basins, pp. 135144, Geology and Resources, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1989. Racey, A., I.R. Duddy, and M.A. Love, Apatite fission track analysis of Mesozoic red beds from northeastern Thailand and western Laos, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Stratigraphy and Tectonic Evolution in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, pp. 200209, Bangkok, Thailand, 1997. Rangin, C., M. Klein, D. Roques, X. Le Pichon, and L.V . Trong, The Red River fault system in the Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam, Tectonophysics, 243, 209222, 1995. Rangin, C., X. Le Pichon, S. Mazzotti, M. Pubellier, N. ChamotRooke, M. Aurelio, A. Walpersdorf, and R. Quebral, Plate convergence measured by GPS across the Sundaland/Philippine Sea plate deformed boundary: the Philippines and eastern Indonesia, Geophys. J. Int., 139, 296316, 1999. Replumaz, A., H. Karason, R.D. van der Hilst, J. Besse, and P. Tapponnier, 4-D evolution of SE Asias mantle from geological reconstructions and seismic tomography, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 221, 103115, 2004. Replumaz, A., and P. Tapponnier, Reconstruction of the deformed collision zone between India and Asia by backward motion of lithospheric blocks, J. Geophys. Res., 108, doi:10.1029/2001JB000661, 2003. Reynolds, S.D., D.D. Coblentz, and R.R. Hillis, Tectonic forces controlling the regional intraplate stress field in continental Australia: Results from new finite element modeling, J. Geophys. Res., 107, doi:10.1029/2001JB000408, 2002. Rhodes, B.P., New U-Pb and Ar/Ar ages from the Doi Inthanon and Doi Suthep metamorphic core complexes, Northwestern Thailand, in The Symposium on Geology of Thailand, pp. 284308, Department of Mineral Resources, Bangkok, Thailand, 2002. Rhodes, B.P., J. Blum, T. Devine, and K. Ruangvataasirikul, Geology of the Doi Suthep metamorphic complex and adjacent Chiang Mai Basin, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Stratigraphy and Tectonic Evolution in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, pp. 305313, Bangkok, Thailand, 1997. Rhodes, B.P., R. Conejo, T. Benchawan, S. Titus, and R. Lawson, Paleocurrents and provenance of the Mae Rim Formation, northern Thailand: Implications for tectonic evolution of the Chiang Mai basin, in 8th International Congress on Pacific Neogene Stratigraphy, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, pp. 311331, 2003. Richardson, R.M., Ridge forces, absolute plate motions, and the intraplate stress-field, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 11,73911,748, 1992. Richardson, R.M., S.C. Solomon, and N.H. Sleep, Tectonic stress in the plates, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 17, 9811017, 1979. Richter, B., E. Schmidtke, M. Fuller, N. Harbury, and A.R. Samsudin, Paleomagnetism of peninsular Malaysia, J. Asian Earth Sci., 17, 477519, 1999.

30

SUNDALAND BASINS Smith, W.H.F., and D.T. Sandwell, Global seafloor topography from satellite altimetry and ship depth soundings, Science , 277 , 19561962, 1997. Smyth, H., R. Hall, J. Hamilton, and P. Kinny, Volcanic origin of quartz-rich sediments in East Java, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 29th Annual Convention, Jakarta , pp. 541559, 2003. Stauffer, P.H., Cenozoic, in Geology of the Malay Peninsula (West Malaysia and Singapore), edited by D.J. Gobbett, and C.S. Hutchison, pp. 143176, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1973. Steckler, M.S., and A.B. Watts, Subsidence of the Atlantic-type margin off New York, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 41, 113, 1978. Suggate, S., and R. Hall, Predicting sediment yields from SE Asia: A GIS approach, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 29th Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 289304, 2003. Summerfield, M.A., and N.J. Hulton, Natural controls of fluvial denudation rates in major world drainage basins, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 1387113883, 1994. Swauger, D.A., S.C. Bergman, A.P. Marillo, E.S. Pagado, and T. Surat, Tertiary stratigraphy and tectonic framework of Sabah, Malaysia: a field and laboratory study, in GEOSEA 95: 8th Regional Conference on Geology, Minerals, and Energy Resources of SE Asia, Manila, pp. 3536, 1995. Tapponnier, P., G. Peltzer, and R. Armijo, On the mechanism of collision between India and Asia, in Collision Tectonics, edited by M.P. Coward, and A.C. Ries, pp. 115157, Geological Society London Special Publication, 1986. Taylor, B., and D.E. Hayes, Origin and history of the South China Sea Basin, in The Tectonic and Geologic Evolution of Southeast Asian Seas and Islands Part 2, edited by D.E. Hayes, pp. 2356, American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Monograph Series, 1983. Tjia, H.D., Sea-level changes in the tectonically stable Malay-Thai peninsula, Quaternary Int., 31, 95101, 1996. Tjia, H.D., and K.K. Liew, Changes in tectonic stress field in northern Sunda Shelf Basins, in Tectonic Evolution of SE Asia, edited by R. Hall, and D.J. Blundell, pp. 291306, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1996. Trevana, A.S., and R.A. Clark, Diagenesis of sandstone reservoirs of Pattani Basin, Gulf of Thailand, AAPG Bull., 70, 299308, 1986. Upton, D., A Regional Fission Track Study of Thailand: Implications for Thermal History and Denudation, Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1999. Upton, D.R., C.S. Bristow, C.S. Hurford, and A. Carter, Tertiary tectonic denudation in Northwestern Thailand: Provisional results from apatite fission-track analysis, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Stratigraphy and Tectonic Evolution in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand, pp. 421431, 1997. Uttamo, W., G.J. Nichols, and C.F. Elders, The Tertiary sedimentary basins of northern Thailand, in Symposium on Mineral, Energy and Water Resources of Thailand: Towards the Year 2000, edited by C. Khantaprab, pp. 7192, Department of Geology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, 1999. Uttamo, W., G.J. Nichols, and C.F. Elders, Relationships between Cenozoic strike-slip faulting and basin opening in northern Thai-

Ritsema, J., and H.-J. van Heijst, Seismic imaging of structural heterogeneity in the Earths mantle: Evidence for large-scale mantle flow, Sci. Prog., 83, 243259, 2000. Ronov, A., V . Khain, and A. Balukhovsky, Atlas of Lithological-Paleogeographical Maps of the World, Mesozoic and Cenozoic of Continents and Oceans , 79 pp., U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, Leningrad, 1989. Roques, D., S.J. Matthews, and C. Rangin, Constraints on strikeslip motion from seismic and gravity data along the Vietnam margin offshore Da Nang: implications for hydrocarbon prospectivity and opening of the East Vietnam Sea, in Petroleum Geology of Southeast Asia, edited by A.J. Fraser, S.J. Matthews, and R.W. Murphy, pp. 341353, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1997a. Roques, D., C. Rangin, and P. Huchon, Geometry and sense of motion along the Vietnam margin: onshore/offshore Da Nang area, Bull. Geol. Soc. France, 168, 413422, 1997b. Ru, K., and J.D. Pigott, Episodic rifting and subsidence in the South China Sea, AAPG Bull., 70, 11361155, 1986. Rutherford, K.J., and M.K. Qureshi, Geothermal gradient map of Southeast Asia 2nd edition 1981, 51 pp., South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society and Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1981. Sandal, S.T., The Geology and Hydrocarbon Resources of Negara Brunei Darussalam, 243 pp., Syabas, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, 1996. Satyana, A.H., D. Nugroho, and I. Surantoko, Tectonic controls on the hydrocarbon habitats of the Barito, Kutei, and Tarakan Basins, eastern Kalimantan, Indonesia: major dissimilarities in adjoining basins, J. Asian Earth Sci., 17, 99122, 1999. Schmidtke, E.A., M.D. Fuller, and R. Haston, Paleomagnetic data from Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, and the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic tectonics of Sundaland, Tectonics, 9, 123140, 1990. Schwartz, M.O., S.S. Rajah, A.K. Askury, P. Putthapiban, and S. Djaswadi, The Southeast Asian Tin Belt, Earth Sci. Rev., 38, 95290, 1995. Seyferth, M., and A. Henk, Syn-convergent exhumation and lateral extrusion in continental collision zonesinsights from three-dimensional numerical models, Tectonophysics, 382, 129, 2004. Shamsuddin, A.H.M., and S.K.M. Abdullah, Geologic evolution of the Bengal Basin and its implications for hydrocarbon exploration in Bangladesh, Indian J. Geol., 69, 93121, 1997. Shi, X., X. Qiu, K. Xia, and D. Zhou, Characteristics of surface heat flow in the South China Sea, J. Asian Earth Sci., 22, 265277, 2003. Simon, B., H.L. ten Haven, and C. Cramez, The petroleum systems of the south Con Son Basin, offshore South Vietnam, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Petroleum Systems of SE Asia and Australia, edited by J.V .C. Howes, and R.A. Noble, pp. 467479, Indonesian Petroleum Association, 1997. Simons, W.J.F., B.A.C. Ambrosius, R. Noomen, D. Angermann, P. Wilson, M. Becker, E. Reinhart, A. Walpersdorf, and C. Vigny, Observing plate motions in SE Asia: Geodetic results of the GEODYSSEA project, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 20812084, 1999.

HALL AND MORLEY land, in Intraplate Strike-Slip Deformation Belts, edited by F. Storti, R.E. Holdsworth, and F. Salvini, pp. 89108, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 2003. van de Weerd, A., and R.A. Armin, Origin and evolution of the Tertiary hydrocarbon bearing basins in Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia., AAPG Bull., 76, 17781803, 1992. van Hattum, M., R. Hall, and G.J. Nichols, Provenance of northern Borneo sediments, in Indonesian Petroleum Association, Proceedings 29th Annual Convention, Jakarta, pp. 305319, 2003. Wang, E., and B.C. Burchfiel, Interpretation of Cenozoic tectonics in the right-lateral accommodation zone between the Ailao Shan shear zone and the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, Int. Geol. Rev., 39, 191219, 1997. Wang, X., J. Wang, Q. Li, and H. Yu, Deep heat flow and geothermal structure in Sichuan basin of China, in Proceedings World Geothermal Congress, Kyushu-Tohoku, Japan, pp. 19371940, 2000. Waples, D.W., A new model for heat flow in extensional basins: radiogenic heat, asthenospheric heat, and the McKenzie model, Natural Resources Res., 10, 227238, 2001. Waples, D.W., A new model for heat flow in extensional basins: estimating radiogenic heat production, Natural Resources Res., 11, 125133, 2002. Watcharanantakul, R., and C.K. Morley, Syn-rift and post-rift modelling of the Pattani Basin, Thailand: evidence for a ramp-flat detachment, Mar. Petroleum Geol., 17, 937958, 2000. Wheeler, P., Cenozoic Basin Formation in SE Asia, Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge University, 2000. Wheeler, P., and N. White, Quest for dynamic topography: Observations from Southeast Asia, Geology, 28, 963966, 2000. Wheeler, P., and N. White, Measuring dynamic topography: An analysis of Southeast Asia, Tectonics, 21, 10.1029/2001TC900023, 2002. White, N., Does the uniform stretching model work in the North Sea?, in Tectonic Evolution of the North Sea Rifts, edited by D.J. Blundell, and A.D. Gibbs, pp. 217239, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1990. White, R., and D. McKenzie, Formation of the steers head geometry of sedimentary basins by differential stretching of the crust and mantle, Geology, 16, 250253, 1988. Wicker, J.J., and J.E.F. Stearn, Baram field The 3D marine reprocessing challenge, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia, 43, 439450, 1999.

31

Widyantoro, S., and R.V. van der Hilst, Mantle structure beneath Indonesia inferred from high-resolution tomographic imaging, Geophys. J. Int., 130, 167182, 1997. Wight, A.W.R., L.H. Hare, and J.R. Reynolds, Tarakan Basin, NE Kalimantan, Indonesia: a century of exploration and future hydrocarbon potential, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia Special Publication, 33, 263288, 1993. William, A.G., J. Lambiase, S. Back, and M.K. Jamiran, Sedimentology of the Jalan Salaiman and Bukit Melinsung outcrops, western Sabah: Is the West Crocker Formation an analogue for Neogene turbidites offshore?, Bull. Geol. Soc. Malaysia, 47, 6375, 2003. Williams, H.H., and R.T. Eubank, Hydrocarbon habitat in the rift graben of the Central Sumatra Basin, Indonesia, in Hydrocarbon Habitat in Rift Basins, edited by J.J. Lambiase, pp. 331371, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1995. Williams, H.H., M. Flower, and R.T. Eubank, Characteristics of selected Palaeogene and Cretaceous lacustrine source basins of Southeast Asia, in Hydrocarbon Habitat in Rift Basins, edited by J.J. Lambiase, pp. 241282, Geological Society of London Special Publication, 1995. Zhou, D., K. Ru, and H.Z. Chen, Kinematics of Cenozoic extension on the South China Sea continental margin and its implications for the tectonic evolution of the region., Tectonophysics, 251, 161177, 1995. Zhu, W.L., M.B. Li, and P.K. Wu, Petroleum systems of the Zhu III subbasin, Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea, AAPG Bull., 83, 9901003, 1999. Zoback, M.L., M.D. Zoback, J. Adams, M. Assumpcao, S. Bell, E.A. Bergman, P. Blumling, N.R. Brereton, D. Denham, J. Ding, K. Fuchs, N. Gay, S. Gregersen, H.K. Gupta, A. Gvishiani, K. Jacob, R. Klein, P. Knoll, M. Magee, J.L. Mercier, B.C. Muller, C. Paquin, K. Rajendran, O. Stephansson, G. Suarez, M. Suter, A. Udias, Z.H. Xu, and M. Zhizhin, Global Patterns of Tectonic Stress, Nature, 341, 291298, 1989. R. Hall, SE Asia Research Group, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, U.K. (e-mail: robert.hall@gl.rhul.ac.uk) C.K. Morley, Department of Petroleum Geoscience, Universiti of Brunei Darussalam, Tunku Link, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam. (e-mail: chrissmorley@yahoo.co.uk)

You might also like