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VOLCANISM AND PLATE TECTONICS IN THE INDONESIAN ISLAND

ARCS

JOHN A. KATlLI
~~n~~~ of Mines, Jakarta ~~~do~esia~
(Accepted for publication December 6, 1974)

ABSTRACT

Katili, J.A., 1975. Volcanism and plate tectonics in the Indonesian island arcs. Tectono-
physics, 26: 165-188.

Studies of seismic and geologic profiles across the Sumatra, Java and Timor arc-trench
systems reveal that large islands of the inner volcanic arc with silicic and intermediate
volcanism, such as Java and Sumatra, were formed due to subduction of oceanic plate
under a thick and old continental crust. The string of smaller volcanic islands east of Java,
Sumbawa, Flores, Alor etc. with intermediate and mafic volcanism came into existence
because of subduction of oceanic plate underneath a thin and young crust.
The tectonic evolution of the Indonesian Archipelago from Late Paleozoic till Pliocene
time, proceeded with subduction and accompanying volcanism spreading systematically
in ever-widening areas away from the continent towards the ocean.
The well-developed zonal structural belts of western Indonesia are generated by
spreading centers situated in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.
Paleo and active volcanism in this region exhibit a regular zonal pattern, although due
to the changing dip of the Benioff zone the magmatic rocks do not necessarily become
younger towards the ocean.
In mid-Tertiary time there emerged east of Borneo, first the Celebes-Philippine and
later the Halmabera island arcs, which originated from a spreading center in the Pacific
Ocean. This new pattern of subduction broke through as the movement of the Pacific
Plate changed into a west-no~hwest direction during Eocene--Oligocene time,
The most dramatic event in the geologic history of Indonesia occurred in Pliocene
time, when the northward advancing Australian continent coupled with the counter-
clockwise rotation of New Guinea and accompanied by the spear heading westward
thrust along the Sorong transform-fault system, severely interrupted the regular zonal
outgrowth of eastern Indonesia. The east-west trending Banda arc was bent westward
while the north-south striking Celebes and Halmahera arcs were pushed back towards the
Asian continent. The islands of Banggai and Buton, originating from New Guinea and the
Banda arc respectively, were swept against Celebes. Minor subduction zones with reverse
polarities developed west of Halmahera and northwest of Celebes.
As a consequence of the collision, Late Cenozoic to Present volcanism in eastern
Indonesia, which accompanied the latest subduction process, shows some peculiar be-
haviour.
In Alor, Wetar and Romang, volcanism ceased as the Indian-Australian Plate moved
continuously to the north and subsequently caused subduction of the Australian con-
tinental crust into the Timor trench.
166

Between Buru and the southeastern arm of Celebes no active volcanoes are en-
countered as the subduction zone terminates suddenly and goes over into the Sorong
transform fault.
The isolated Una-Una volcano in the Gulf of Gorontalo, Central Celebes, could be
related to the southeast-dipping dormant subduction zone situated in the Celebes Sea.
The occurrence of volcanoes north of Alor and Wetar and in the Gulf of Gorontalo tends
to support the opinion that dormant subduction zones can still be held responsible for
the occurrence of active volcanoes far behind an island arc.
Thus we conclude that the late Cenozoic to Present active talc-alkaline and potassic
volcanoes of the Indonesian Archipelago are directly related to the process of lithosphere
subduction as envisaged by the plate-tectonic concept.
Late Cenozoic high-alkaline basalts in western Indonesia may mark the sites of vol-
canic hot spots implying that this part of the region is a stationary continental plate
relative to the mantle since at least tens of millions of years, The beautifully concentric
arrangement of the Phanerozoic arc-trench systems of western Indonesia, however,
suggests that the continent, around which the younger subduction zones have developed
themselves in a systematic way, had already reached its fixed position far back in Paleo-
zoic time.

INTRODUCTION

In a previous paper, attempts have been made by the present author to fit
certain geological and geophysical features of the Indonesian island arcs to
the new global tectonics (Katili, 1973a). The ideas have been further ex-
panded to explain the tectonic evolution of western Indonesia by utilizing
new data on radiometric age dating of granitic rocks (Katili, 1973b).
The dispositions presented in those papers seem to justify the assumption
that temporal changes of location and differing direction and rate of dips of
Benioff zones, as well as the existence of parallel opposing subduction zones
may be held responsible for the tectonic features of western Indonesia.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the distribution, composition
and ages of volcanic rocks in western as well as eastern Indonesia and to see
whether these features are in harmony with the synthesis already proposed
for western Indonesia.
The ideas regarding the relationship between volcanism and tectonics in
Indonesia have been drawn heavily from Van Bemmelen (1949), whose under-
standing and synthesis regarding these two features in the pre-plate-tectonics
days are without parallel.
Using plate tectonics as a basis, modification, improvements and necessary
changes will be made in the classical theories, substantiated by newly ac-
quired geological and geophysical data from onshore and offshore areas.
The present paper will discuss first the refinement of the existing Indone-
sian plate-tectonic models, based on data obtained from deep seismic pro-
files which industry has made available to us and on recent publications
specifically dealing with areas considered here as paleo-subduction zones
(Haile, 1972; Soekendar, 1974).
To understand the present and paleogeographic distribution of the Indo-
 167

nesian volcanoes, it is necessary to dwell in more detail on the present tec-

tonic framework specifically in eastern Indonesia, and to find out how these
complicated structures came into being. This is very important as the present
tectonic configuration is considered to be anomalous, caused by the inter-
action of at least three major lithospheric plates (Katili, 1971).
By restoring the eastern Indonesian arcs into their original position before
the interaction of plates, we will notice that the paleo-tectonic pattern is a
relatively simple one and forms an important clue in unravelling the tectonic
evolution of this region.

REFINEMENT OF THE INDONESIAN PLATE-TECTONIC MODEL

Plate-tectonic models in a convergent juncture with examples from Indo-

nesia have been constructed by Hamilton (1970), Katili (1971) and later on
improved by Hamilton (1973) and Katili (1973a, b).
Three profiles across the arc-trench system of Sumatra, Java and Timor
are presented here for the purpose of refining the plate-tectonic model in a
convergent juncture. These profiles are based on deep seismic profiles carried
out by oil companies and some modifications were made to show the rela-
tionship between the oceanic volcano of the Christmas Island and the island-
arc volcanoes of Java.
The section across the Sumatra arc-trench system (Fig. 1) shows that this
arc was formed solely by subduction of oceanic crust under continental
crust. The continental crust is thick and old here as it comprises volcanic arcs

ARC - TRENCH GAP

t.4AGM.AGENERATED
ABOVE BENIOFF 20~~

LEGEND

Fig. 1. Schematic section across Sumatra (data from Mobil Oil Corp., modified by the
author).
168

ARC - TRENCH GAP VOLCANO I PLUTONIC

ASTHENOSPHERE
MAGMA GENERATED
ABOVE BENIOFF ZONE

LEGEND

Tertiary granitic basement

B Cenozoic sediments rocks 01 Java
lT%za
v v v Young volcanic rocks
m ;=&$$p”$=;, en
m ot Java
Trrlirry volcanic rocks Oceanic crust
m of Chrlrtmas Island l!3za

Deformed Tcrbary rocks

IBZ!

Fig. 2. Schematic section across Java (data from Mobil Oil Corp., modified by the
author).

of the Permian, Cretaceous and Tertiary ages (Katih, 1973b). The magmatic
rocks formed above the Benioff zone are mostly silicic and intermediate in
character. Large ignimbrite deposits occur in this island. Very thick abyssal
elastic sediments are subducted in the Sumatra trench (Hamilton, 1973) and
the thick sediment pile was pushed up into an actual island chain.
The section across the Java arc-trench system (Fig. 2) demonstrates that
this arc was also formed by subduction of oceanic plate under continental
crust. The crust is thin and relatively young as it consists mostly of a vol-
boo-plutoni~ arc of Terti~ age (Katili, 1973a). Few i~imb~te deposits
occur in Java. The magmatic rocks are mostly intermediate. The oceanic
crust south of the trench is covered by 200 meter of Tertiary pelagic sedi-
ments (Hamilton, 1973) and it could be seen that the volcanic rocks of the
Christmas Islands will be subducted in the future in the Java trench. A simi-
lar situation will be described from Timor where Permian volcanic rocks of
oceanic origin were found in the Tertiary Timor subduction zone.
The section across the Timor arc-trench system (Fig. 3) shows an entirely
different character. Two distinct phases can be discerned in the development
of the Banda arc. In an earlier phase, oceanic plate of the Indian-Australian
plate was subducted under the Banda oceanic plate, and in a later phase
followed by subduction of the Australian continental crust into the Banda
arc subduction zone as Australia drifts continuously northward. The result is
decrease or cessation of the active subduction zone, as evidenced by the lack
of active volcanoes in Alor, Wetar and Romang. The absence of under-
 169

INDIAN-AUSTRALIAN ARC - TREKH GAP VOLCANO I PLUTONIC

. t + l t l

x x x x

ABOVE BENWF ZONE

INCLINED BENIOFF ZONE

LEGEND

Upper Paleozoic
Cenozoic sediments rocks as lllochlonou~ nappcs
lza
m Young volcanic rocks m Highly defor,mcd Paleozoic
rv’,‘I ot Florcs and Mesqo~c rocks beneath Timor
Tertmry granitic basement rocks
Oceanic crust
l!%zl of Florcs

Fig. 3. Schematic section across Timor (data from Mobil Oil Corp., modified by the
author).

thrusting in this area might also be ascribed to the cessation of the active sub-
duction zone as outlined above. If this assumption is correct one should find
predominant mantle material (ophiolites) in the older deposits of Timor and
thick terrigenous sediments in the Plio-Pleistocene deposits.
The magmatic rocks formed above the Benioff zone in Timor is inter-
mediate and mafic. The crust here is thin and young and flanked on both
sides by oceanic crust.
The thickness of the sediments in the present Timor subduction zone is
about 8000 feet, the sediments are relatively undisturbed and tensional
faults can be observed, presumably caused by bending of the crust.
In conclusion it can be said that the formation of the Sumatra-Java arc
and the Banda arc (Lesser Sunda Islands) shows differences which could be
ascribed to the crustal elements involved, as described above. Where thick
and old continental crust is involved, we find large islands with silicic and
intermediate volcanics, such as Sumatra and Java, and where thin and young
crust is involved, a string of small islands with intermediate and mafic vol-
canics will be formed, such as Sumbawa, Flores, Alor, Wetar, Romang etc.
In the Tertiary subduction zone of northwest Borneo, the scarcity of the
traditional eugosynclinal elements such as ophiolites and cherts, abyssal red
clays are apparent. The main flysch development (Upper Cretaceous to
Upper Eocene) contains little or no chert or ophiolites and shows extremely
regular dips (Haile, 1972).
The Cretaceous subduction zone of Central Java, however, displays char-
acteristic features of a Fransiscan-type melange (Soekendar, 1974) and the
170

same can be said regarding the melange of the Meratus Range in southeast
Borneo.
In the non-volcanic outer arc of Indonesia which is interpreted as a Ter-
tiary subduction zone (Hamilton, 1970; Katili, 1973a), different types of
petrotectonic assemblages can be discerned. The islands off the west coast of
Sumatra are characterized by thick flysch-type deposits with few ophiolites.
In the islands of Timor, Ceram, Buru and presumably Buton, large
amounts of terrigenous material are encountered. The Plio-Pleistocene sedi-
ments display a truly sedimentary character and little ophiolite is present.
These islands are potential areas for hydrocarbon accumulation as is evi-
denced from petroleum deposits in Ceram and asphalt deposits on Buton.
The Tertiary subduction zone of East Celebes indicates that thin layers of
pelagic sediments supplied to the trench were higly deformed and show
much involvement of mantle. The same can be said about Halmahera and the
small islands of this region which together with Celebes contain Indonesia’s
largest lateritic nickel and iron-ore deposits.
It is contended that in open-ocean island arcs, where little pelagic sedi-
ment is supplied to a subduction zone, deformation is apparent and mantle
material is the dominant factor such as in Celebes and Halmahera. Minor
occurrence of ophiolites and less deformation characterized the outer arcs
where a large amount of terrigenous sediments is being fed to the subduction
zone, like in Timor, Ceram and Buru.

TECTONIC FRAMEWORK OF THE INDONESIAN ISLAND ARCS

Extending from the northwestern tip of Sumatra to Flores and the islands
east of it, this island arc - usually named the Sunda arc - most clearly
exhibits the mechanics and effects of plate tectonics.
It is convex towards the Indian ocean and shows the regular and zonal
physiographic, geologic and geophysical features which have been inter-
preted in terms of plate tectonics by Hatherton and Dickinson (1969), Fitch
(1970,1972), Hamilton (1970,1973) and Katili (1971,1973a, b). The loop-
shaped Banda arc and the peculiar form of Celebes and Halmahera is the
result of the northward drift of the Australian continent with New Guinea
attached to it, combined with the westward thrust of the Pacific Plate
(Katili, 1973a).
A similar explanation, although with variations has already been advanced
by Visser and Hermes (1962), Audley-Charles and Carter (1972), and Gribi
(1973).
The explanation which will be given below differs slightly in the sense that
East Celebes and Halmahera, before collision, are here considered as two
north-south trending arc-trench systems which accommodated the west-
northwest movement of the Pacific Plate in Tertiary time.
We regard Timor, Ceram, Buru and Buton as belonging to the same south-
facing island-arc system in view of their geologic similarities and we ascribe
 171

their formation to the subduction of the Indian Ocean-Australian Plate.

It has already been mentioned that the difference between Celebes and
the Banda arc is clearly expressed in the difference between the geology of
Buton, Buru etc. and that of the southeastern arm of Celebes. The Mesozoic
in Celebes is strongly metamorphosed, while it is not in the islands of Buton
and Ceram. Southeast Celebes contains abundant ophiolites derived from the
oceanic-type crust with nickel and chromium deposits, while Buton, Ceram
and Timor are composed of sedimentary sequences with hydrocarbon shows.
The original position of the Celebes arc-trench system before collision can
be reconstructed rather easily.
The interruption of the continuous island arc-trench system occurs at
Buru, but resumes its normal course in the Sangihe volcanic inner arc and the
Talaud non-volcanic outer arc which trend parallel in a north--south
direction.
The Talaud ridge can be extended southward to the Mayu ridge where it
bends westward and continues into the eastern arm of Sulawesi. The sub-
marine Mayu ridge in the Moluccas Sea shows a very strong gravity minimum
associated with an immense accumulation of “opaque” sediments and it
might be interpreted as a recently filled remnant of an old trench. What is
now the eastern part of Celebes could have been located at the southern
continuation of the Talaud-Mayu ridge, approximately 600 km east of its
present position and the same can be said about the western arc of Sulawesi
which at that time acted as the corresponding volcanic arc.
For the Halmahera arc-trench system a similar origin during a younger
phase of crustal movement (Burdigalian) could be advocated.
The arc west and north of Buru (Fig. 4) has been termed the Sulawesi-
Moluccas “collision-zone” by Mobil Oil Corp. geologists (written communica-
tion, 1972). The shape of two eastern arms of Celebes and Halmahera is
being compared with an “arrowhead” pointing westward and the two larger
slightly arcuate western arms as a “wave front” proceeding from a projectile.
It has already been known for a long time that the eastern arcuate arms,
convex westwards, consist of ophiolites, and that the western arcs comprise
active volcanoes, which in western Celebes have ceased in Quatemary times.
Thus Celebes and Halmahera were once north-south trending island arcs
convex towards the Pacific with westward-dipping subduction zones.
The spear-heading westward movements of the Pacific Plate along the
Sorong transform-fault system could thus easily explain the geologic com-
plexities and also similarities of the Sulawesi-Halmahera region and can also
account for the interruption of the island-arc system between the Banda arc
and the Sangihe and Talaud bridge leading to the Philippines. During this
movement the Banggai and Buton Islands were swept against the north-
eastern and southeastern arms of East-Celebes respectively.
The east-west trending Banda arc only underwent a westward bending as
the motion here was not transformed into a megashear such as in the area
between West New Guinea and Celebes.
172

Fig. 4. Celebes-Moluccas collision zone and the Banda subduction zone. Note the two
eastern arms of Celebes and Halmahera resembling arrowheads pointing westward, and
the two slightly arcuate western arms comparable to a wave front proceeding a projectile.
The subduction zone is characterized by Plio-Pleistocene basins while in the collision zone
ultrabasic rocks predominate.

LATE CENOZOIC TO RECENT VOLCANISM

It has already been pointed out by many authors that in erogenic regions
three phases of magmatic evolution can be distinguished, well known in the
literature as Stille’s “initialer Vulkanismus”, “synorogener Plutonismus und
subsequenter Vulkanismus” and “finaler Vulkanismus”.
This concept however cannot be rigorously applied when studying the
relationship between volcanism and tectonics in Indonesia (Katili, 1969).
Whereas Stille’s concept only referred to the evolution of one erogenic
area, Van Bemmelen expanded the idea by applying it to parallel structural
zones of the Sunda mountain system, in accordance with his undation
theory. His cross-section from the Christmas Island passing through Java up
to the island of Karimunjava in the Sunda shelf illustrates the different
petrographic provinces in relation to the foreland, geosynclinal foredeep,
volcanic inner arc, backdeep and hinterland.
The lateral variation in composition of basaltic magma across the Indone-
sian island arcs might - according to Kuno (1966) - be due to the produc-
tion of different magmas at different depths.
Hatherton and Dickinson (1969) demonstrated that in Indonesia there
exists a correlation between the increase of KaO content in recent volcanic
products and the depth of the Benioff zone.
 173

D.J. Whitford and I.A. Nichols (personal communication, 1973) concluded

that when the KsO content of rocks from the individual volcanoes of Java are
normalized to a given SiOs content and plotted against the depth of the
Benioff zone, an approximately straight-line relationship is obtained. The
same relationship is also observed for most of the large cation trace elements.
The slight discrepancy between the geological, geophysical and volcano-
logical features of Sumatra and Java have been explained in terms of differ-
ential northward movement of the Indian-Australian Plate, a different
evolutionary stage of the downgoing slab presently descending in the
Sumatra and Java trench and by the fact that past magmatic zones in
Sumatra and Java had a different arrangement (Katili, 1973a).
The distribution and composition of Late Cenozoic and Present volcanoes
in relation to the present plate boundaries are depicted in Fig. 5.
The distribution of volcanoes and the different petro~phic provinces is
taken from Van Bemmelen (1949), while the plate boundaries are derived
from Katili (1973a). Minor adjustments of plate boundaries have been made,
based on recent publications (Tjia, 1973) and on data received from oil
companies, such as the southern extension of the Palu fault zone to an area
east of Sumba (M. Kontz, personal communication, 1973) and the branch-
ing-off of the Sorong transform fault (Hutton, tectonic map of Indonesia,
in preparation).
The dormant trench northwest of northern Celebes is after Hamilton
(1973), while the Gorontalo transform fault was described earlier by the
author (Katili, 1973a).
Based on radar imagery and geological mapping in the region, Trail et al.
(1974) suggest that the right-lateral movement has occurred not along a
single fault as postulated by the author {Katili, 1970), but along several
faults within a zone at least 15 km across.
The talc-alkaline volcanoes of the Sunda and Banda arcs demonstrate
clearly the effect of the present subduction process.
Potassic volcanoes are present north of Java and north of Flores and
Sumbawa, while they are absent east of Sumatra. This can be explained by
the fact that the deepest penetration of the lithosphere in Sumatra reaches
only 200 km while north of Java and Flores it reaches 400 and 700 km,
respectively.
No active volcanoes are encountered in Alor, Wetar and Romang, and this
has been explained by the cessation of subduction in the Timor trench
(Katili, 1973b). The volcanoes have apparently been shifted northwards
(Van Bemmelen, 1949) and if these volcanoes can still be related to the
Timor subduction zone one cannot help but conclude that dormant subduc-
tion zones can still cause volcanic activity far behind the island arc. As will
be seen later, the anomalous position of the Una-Una volcanic island in the
Gulf of Gorontalo, Central Celebes, can also be explained in this way.
Fitch (1970) has pointed out that although there is no evidence from
focal mechanism to support the existence of underthrusting along the
 a Calc-alkalIno?
volcanicrocks
‘otaruc YOlePnic rocks
@a
* Hiah alk~~rie polemic m&s

Fig. 5. Late Cenozoic to Present volcanism ana theu: relatianship to tectanics. A = Alor, W 3 Wetar, U = Una-Una, K = Karimunjawa,
L = ‘Lampung, Mt = Miut, Md = Midai.
 175

eastern end of the Sunda arc (east of 115”E), a well-developed inclined

Benioff zone exists beneath the arc in this region.
Decrease or cessation of the subduction zone as evidenced by lack of
underthrusting does not necessarily imply cessation of movements of the
deepest part of the downgoing lithosphere.
The &c-alkaline volcanoes of the Banda arc trend parallel to the Timor
Ceram trench, and end abruptly south of Ceram. The subduction zone termi-
nates suddenly north of Buru and goes over into a no~he~t~outhwest
trending transform fault which south of Celebes was cut off by the south-
ward extension of the Palu-Koro fault zone. No active volcanoes are present
between Buru and the southeastern arm of Celebes as the plate boundary
here is represented by transform faults.
In the western arm of Celebes, Late Cenozoic and active volcanoes exist in
the southern end of the island, in the Gulf of Gorontalo tuna-Una volcano)
and in the Minahassa and Sangihe region.
The tectonic position of the potassic volcanoes in southern Celebes is not
clear, as the Benioff zone dipping in the Java trench does not extend beneath
these volcanoes.
The Una-Una volcanic island situated in the Gulf of Gorontalo, Central
Celebes, produces a medium alkaline series of rocks, and cannot be related to
the talc-alkaline volcanoes of the Minahassa region in northern Celebes
(Katili et al., 1960). By accepting the plate boundaries as seen in Fig. 5 one
can relate this volcano easily with the southeastward-dipping dormant sub-
duction zone postulated by Hamilton (1970) in the Celebes Sea. The rela-
tively high potassic content of this volcano is compatible with its position
relative to the trench.
The active talc-alkaline volcanoes of the Minahassa-Sangihe group can be
related to the westward-dipping subduction zone as the Minahassa trench
trends parallel to this volcanic row.
The Halmahera volcanoes run parallel to the Halmahera trench and their
position is in agreement with an eastw~d-dipping subduction zone already
postulated by Hatherton and Dickinson (1969). Complications in this region
arise because of the overriding of a west-dipping subduction zone by an
east-dipping one (Hamilton, 1973).
Another interesting volcanic feature already described by Van Bemmelen
(1949) is the occurrence of “plateau basalts” in Lampung, South Sumatra,
Karimunjava (Java Sea), in Miut (West K~irn~t~) and Midai (Sunda Shelf),
Such highly alkaline basalt has also been described by Hutchison (1973)
from Kuantan and Segamat in the Malay Peninsula.
The distribution of these highly alkaline basalts could perhaps not be
related to the present inclined Benioff zone. They exist in South Sumatra,
where the potassic volcanoes are absent and where the lithosphere does not
penetrate deeper than 200 km. Neither can their occurrence in West Borneo,
in the islands of the Sunda Shelf, or in the Malay Peninsula be related to
another subduction zone as none exists at the southern end of the South
176

China Sea. They are not encountered in areas east of the Makassar Strait.
Hutchison (1973) has related these basalts to deep-extension faulting due to
the interaction of the Eurasian, Indian Ocean-Austr~ian and Pacific Plates.
It is of interest to note that the highly alkaline basalts of Karimunjava and
Sukadana are situated in elevated basement rocks. The Karimunjava arch
consists, according to Nayoan (1973), of a coarse elastic complex, more than
1000 m thick, of slightly metamorphosed quartzsandstone of pre-Tertiary
age, capped by basaltic rocks.
The Lampung high which is capped by the Sukadana basalts consists also
of pre-Tertiary gneisses and amphibolite intruded by granitic rocks of Creta-
ceous age (Katili, 197310).
A speculative thought arises that these alkaline basalts could be inter-
preted as volcanically active hot spots as they cannot be related to the pres-
ent subduction zones and occur in an uplift, marked by elevated basement
rocks.
If this assumption is correct, then one has to accept the theory that the
Sunda land should be considered as fixed for at least tens of millions of years
(Wilson, 1972).

TERTIARY VOLCANIST

Figs. 6 and 7 depict the distribution of the Tertiary talc-alkaline volcanic

rocks compiled mainly from Van Bemmelen (1949) and Katili and Marks
(1963).
The corresponding subduction zones have been drawn based on Hamilton
(1970) and Katili (1971).
The geographic location of the islands in eastern Indonesia before the
interaction of the Eurasian, Indian-Australian and Pacific Plates has been
reconstructed based on the kinematic analysis already discussed in the pre-
ceding pages regarding the tectonic framework of the Indonesian island arcs.
The Oligo-Miocene andesitic rocks west of Sumatra and south of Java and
their relationship to the Early Tertiary subduction zones have been treated
by the author in previous publications (Katili, 1971,1973a). The granites in
Sumatra, which belong to this arc, have been dated radiometrically (Katili,
1973b).
Tertiary volcanic rocks of the southwestern arm of the Celebes comprise
trachytic, andesitic and dacitic pyroclastic rocks, lavas and lahar deposits
which are partly consolidated. These rocks occur near Pare-Pare and locally
along the Palu fault zone.
Intermediate volcanic and basic volcanic rocks consisting of volcanic
breccia, lava, pillow lava, and tuff, are present in the southwestern arm, in
the western part of the Central Sulawesi and at the northeastern end of the
island. K/Ar dating on rocks yielded 7.5-17.7 m.y. (Indonesia Gulf Oil,
written communication, 1972), that is from Upper to Middle Miocene.
Basic volcanic rocks are also present in the form of basaltic and spilitic
 177

z
Ei
i :A
:::.

.,. .‘.’.:.:

.:.,,
:,

.,
.,.. .,.,.’
S3a
;,.
_
.
1.;
.,.‘,‘.‘,‘.
” ;’ 1.;
:::: :,:,:.
j

fj 5
 LEGEND

Direction ai pli(e
1 llwmnent
KALIMANTAN

BUTON

Fig. 7. Volcanism in Indonesia during Middle-Upper Miocene time (Burdigalian).

 179

rocks. The age is not known with certainty but volcanics south of Donggala,
Central Celebes are considered to be the volcanic facies of the Eocene
Tinombo Formation (R. Sukamto, personal communication, 1973).
Granitic rocks in the southern part of the Celebes yielded ages ranging
from 5 - lo6 m.y. to 8.6 * 10’ m.y., that is, from Early Pliocene to Late
Miocene (Indonesia Gulf Oil, written communication, 1972).
The corresponding Tertiary subduction zone situated in the eastern arm of
Sulawesi has been described by Hamilton (1970) and will not be dealt with
in this paper.
The younger Tertiary volcanic rocks in the northern arm of Celebes have
been investigated in detail by Trail et al. (1974).
The Dolokapa formation of Early to Late Miocene age consists of andesite
interlayered with grauwacke, and limestones. Early Miocene to Pliocene,
Bilungala volcanics near Gorontalo consist of andesite, dacite, basalt and
rhyolite. The Late Miocene to Pliocene Wobudu breccia consists of andesitic
agglomerate, tuff, ash and some dacite and basalt. The Pani volcanics, which
are supposed to be Pliocene, are composed of dacite, rhyolite and andesite
while the youngest volcanic rocks, named the Pinogu volcanics, of Pliocene
to Pleistocene age, consist of andesite, dacite tuffs and agglomerate.
No radiometric age dating has been carried out on the granitic rocks in
this region but field-relationships indicate, according to Trail et al. (1974),
ages ranging from Pliocene (Bumbulan granodiorite) to Miocene (Bolihuto
and Bone diorites).
The corresponding subduction zone of the Miocene volcanics in the
northern arm of Celebes might also be the one in the eastern arm of Celebes
which was mentioned previously (Fig. 6).
The younger Pliocene volcanics and granitic rocks in the Gorontalo sec-
tion, however, might be caused by the subduction of a minor trench north-
west of Sulawesi which occurred after the spearheading westward move-
ments of the Sorong transform-fault system (Fig. 5).
For the description of the younger Tertiary volcanic rocks in Halmahera
and New Guinea (Fig. 7) the reader is referred to Van Bemmelen (1949),
Katili and Marks (1963), and Visser and Hermes (1962).

PRE-TERTIARY VOLCANISM

An ~po~nt occurrence of Cretaceous volcanic rocks in the Gumai

Mountains of South Sumatra has been described by Musper (1937). The rocks
occur in two different facies, the Saling Series consisting of tuffs, coarse
volcanic breccias, lava flows of basaltic and andesitic composition and reef
limestones, and the Lingsing Series comprising monotonous formations of
thin-bedded silicious marly and clayey shales with radiolarian cherts. Vol-
canic rocks of andesitic and basaltic composition also occur in the Lingsing
Series.
Other occurrences of Upper Cretaceous volcanic rocks have been de-
180

LEGEND

Fig. 8. Volcanism in Indonesia during Cretaceous.

scribed by Koolhoven (1935) from the Meratus Mountains in southeastern

Borneo. They consist of volcanic breccia, tuffs and lavas of andesitic com-
position.
Cretaceous granitic rocks occurring within the same belt as the volcanic
rocks and the corresponding subduction zones have been reported by the
author in a previous publication (Katili, 1973b).
Beside this Sumatrayoutheast Borneo arc--trench system another Creta-
ceous arc-trench system with an opposing subduction zone has been postu-
lated by the author (Katili, 1973a) north of the arc described above. The
radiometric ages of the plutonic rocks have been described in detail (Katili,
1973b; Pupilli, 1973) and within this zone Pupilli (1973) mentioned grey to
greenish-grey effusive rocks of andesitic origin possessing an age of about
92.4 m.y. (Fig. 8).
The occurrence of a Triassic-Jurassic arc-trench system with a Benioff
zone dipping towards the Asiatic continent was also postulated by the
author (Katili, 1973b) based mostly on the ages and composition of the
Malayan-Indonesian tin granites. Volcanism in West Malaysia was essentially
rhyolitic.
Another Triassic arc-trench system passing through West Borneo and
Natuna with an opposing subduction zone was described by Hutchison
(1973) and Pupilli (1973) (see Fig. 9). The Late Triassic Serian volcanic
series of Serawak ranges in composition from basalt to rhyolites. Similar
volcanic rocks were found in offshore wells in the South China Sea, con-
sisting of andesite, basalt, trachyte, dacite, breccia and tuffs with radiomet-
Fig. 9. Volcanism in Indonesia during Triassic and Jurassic.

ric ages ranging from 169 +_7 m.y. to 1’71 +_3 m.y. For a detailed description
the reader is referred to Pupilli (1973).
The corresponding subduction zone of this north-facing minor volcanic
arc has been discussed by Hutchison (1973) and Pupilli (1973).
Turning to the Permian volcanism (Fig. 10) we observe that it occurs
along the whole length of Sumatra. The occurrence in the Padang Highlands,
Central Sumatra and in Djambi, South Sumatra has been described in detail
by Klompe et al. (1961).
In Central Sumatra, the volcanic rocks consist of flows of hornblende
andesites, augite andesites and tuffs with intercalation of silicified shales and
limestones containing Permian fossils (Katili, 1969).
The plate-tectonics model requires the existence of Permian granites in
Sumatra and this has been reported by the author (Katili, 197313) based on
recent radiometric age dating. Late Paleozoic granites possessing ages of ca.
276-298 m.y. are present in South and Central Sumatra.
Abundant andesitic and basaltic volcanic rocks have been described by
Klompe et al. (1961) in West Borneo and West Malaysia. Widespread andesi-
tic to rhyolitic volcanic and pyroclastic activity characterized the region of
the Malay Peninsula east of the Main Range (Hutchison, 1973).
The corresponding subduction zone of the Sumatran Permian volcanics
dips towards the Asiatic continent while the paleo Benioff zone associated
with the Malayan-Borneo volcanics is inclined towards the Indian Ocean.
The occurrence of this double opposing arc-trench system was first de-
scribed by Katili (1973a), and later on reinforced by Hutchison (1973) and
182

LEGEND

Fig. 10. Vofcanism in Indonesia during Permian.

Pupilli (1973). Abundant alkaline granites of different ages in western

Borneo appear to sustain the existence of the postulated opposing subduc-
tion zones.
Another occurrence worth mentioning here is the Permian volcanism in
Timor. This has been discussed by De Roever (1941) and the rocks here
consist of olivine basalts, trachy-basalt, alkali-trachytes and alkali-rhyolites.
They are older than the ophiolites in Timor, and De Roever (1941) considers
these volcanics as having been formed during what he called the “early
geosynclinal stage”.
The geologic occurrence, composition and age of these volcanics show
that they cannot be regarded as belonging to a Permian volcano-plutonie arc
(De Roever, 1941). The plate-tectonic concept makes it reasonable to
assume that they were once Permian oceanic volcanoes subducted in the
Tertiary trench of Timor.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

In Permian time a subduction zone dipping towards the northeast in the

direction of the Asian continent, must have existed in or west of Sumatra,
indicating one of the earliest episodes of lithospheric descent in this region.
Andesitic volcanism and granitie emplacement in Sumatra accompanied this
subduction process.
At the same time a minor subduction zone dipping towards the southwest
is believed to have been operating at the northeastern margin of the conti-
 183

nent. Andesitic, basaltic and granitic rocks, encountered in the eastern part
of West Malaysia and West Borneo can be considered as the co~esponding
vol~~o-plutoni~ arc.
In Triassic-Jurassic time the subduction zone at the southwestern conti-
nental margin shifted towards the Indian Ocean. The Benioff zone dipping
towards the continent is believed to have been shallower than the Permian
one as evidenced by the well-developed broad volcano-plutonic arc of the
Malayan Peninsula and the Indonesian tin islands which occupied a belt
situated closer to the Asian continent than the Permian one. Another minor
subduction zone with opposing dip developed at the same time, presumably
along the Lupar line in Serawak (Hutchison, 1973), indicating a migration of
the northeastern subduction zone towards the South China Sea.
The corresponding volcanic arc consists of the Serian volcanic rocks and
the Triassic volcanics encountered in drill holes in the Sunda Shelf, as men-
tioned earlier.
In Cretaceous time both the southwestern and northeastern subduction
zone became larger as they moved towards the directions of the Indian
Ocean and the South China Sea, respectively. For a detailed description of
this Cretaceous arc-trench system the reader is referred to Katili (1971,
1973a, b).
During Tertiary time (Aquitanian) the development of the arc-trench
system in Indonesia reached its highest point. A spreading center which had
its origin in the Indian Ocean generated an arc-trench system stretching
from the northwestern tip of Sumatra, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands,
Timor, Tanimbar, Kai, Ceram, Bum and Buton. The Banda arc at that time
exhibited an east-west trend and together with Nias-Mentawai-South
Java submarine ridge comprises an approximately six thousand kilometer
long Tertiary subduction zone dipping at a relatively steep angle towards the
continent.
Intensive volcanism occurred simultaneously with this renewed subduc-
tion of which the products are now well exposed along the west coast of
Sumatra, the south coast of Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Granitic rocks found in Java, Flores, Alor and Ambon also belong to this
Tertiary volcano-plutonic arc.
At more or less the same time a new pattern of subduction in the form of
a north-south trending east-facing island arc broke through east of Borneo,
ori~nating from a spreading center situated in the Pacific Ocean. This emer-
gence of the Sulawesi-Philippine island-arc system coincided with the
change in movement of the Pacific Plate which since Eocene+ligocene time
was directed west-northwestward (Ben-Abraham and Uyeda, 1973).
In the Middle to Upper Miocene (Burdigalian) time this north-south
trending S~awesi-Mind~au subduction zone migrated farther eastward and
created the eastward-facing Halmahera island arc. This arc could not be
developed farther south as its growth was hampered by the northward-
advancing Australian continent with New Guinea attached to its northern
border.
184

Subduction ceased, presumably at the end of the Miocene, and caused

uplift creating the Indonesian non-volcanic outer arc such as Mentawai-Nias,
Timor, Tanimbar, Kei, Buru, Ceram and Buton.
The most dramatic event in the geologic history of Indonesia took place in
Pliocene time when the northward-advancing Australian continent coupled
with the counter-clockwise rotation of New Guinea and accompanied by the
spearheading westward thrust of the Sorong fault system, caused the west-
ward bending of the east-west trending Banda arc. This movement, while
severely transforming the east-facing Sulawesi and Halmahera arcs into their
present K-shape configuration, also pushed Sulawesi hundreds of kilometers
back towards the Asian continent (compare Fig. 7 and Fig. 5).
In Plio-Pleistocene time the subduction zone west of Sumatra and south
of Java shifted oceanward to the present Sumatra-Java trench. Late Ceno-
zoic to Recent volcanism, however, migrated in opposite directions as the
dip of the Benioff zone is much shallower than the previous one.
The continuing northward movement of the Australian continent and the
westward thrust of the Pacific Plate is being accommodated respectively by
the loop-shaped Banda trench and the Sorong transform-fault system, along
which the islands of Sula Spur and Buton were swept against Celebes.
The volcanoes in eastern Indonesia which developed after the collision,
followed more or less the same pattern as the Tertiary ones but are absent in
areas where subduction has been replaced by transcurrent movements. They
are, however, active in the northern part of Celebes, where minor subduction
zones have developed to accommodate the differential movements of this
island. They are also present in Halmahera where as a consequence of the
collision a subduction zone with reverse polarity developed west of this
island.
The tectonic evolution of the Indonesian Archipelago as depicted above
(Fig. 11) demonstrates that since Paleozoic time the subduction zones have
spread themselves systematically in ever-widening areas away from the conti-
nent towards the Indian Ocean, and later on during the Tertiary in the direc-
tion of the Pacific Ocean. Older subduction zones occur closer to the conti-
nent, while the younger ones are situated nearer to the ocean.
The corresponding volcano-plutonic arcs also exhibit a zonal structure but
volcanics and granites of different ages can occur in one erogenic belt as
their locations depend largely upon the rate of the dip of the Benioff zones.
The well-developed zonal structure and the existence of volcanic hot spots
in western Indonesia are difficult to reconcile with anything but the exis-
tence of a fixed continent since Late Paleozoic time in this region.
In western Indonesia, the subduction zones have not shifted very far
towards the Indian Ocean, so that younger volcanism penetrates the older
erogenic belts. In eastern Indonesia the migration occurred at distances
which could be expressed in hundreds of kilometers (Fig. 11). This discrep-
ancy might presumably be ascribed to the divergent behaviour of the spread-
ing centers situated in the Indian and the Pacific Ocean respectively.
186

The regular zonal outgrowth of the subduction zone towards the oceans
continued undisturbed in western Indonesia but was severely interrupted in
the eastern part during Pliocene time when the collision took place between
the Indian-Australian, Asian and Pacific Plates, as has been described earlier
(Figs. 4 and 5).
Another result of the collision is the development of minor subduction
zones with reverse polarities, such as in Halmahera and northwestern
Celebes.
The synthesis put forward in this paper appears to favour the idea that the
Banda Sea be considered as an oceanic crust trapped between younger arcs,
rather than a basin which came into existence by a diapiric pull-apart mecha-
nism as suggested by Karig (1971) and prematurely used by the author as a
basis to construct a plate-tectonic model of eastern Indonesia (Katili,
1973b).
Further gravity, seismic and heat-flow investigations in the small deep-sea
basins of eastern Indonesia are needed before this intriguing problem can be
satisfactorily solved.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to acknowledge Dr. Ismet Akil from Pertamina for giving me the
permission to publish Mobil Oil Corporation’s data on the sections across
Sumatra, Java and Timor. My deepest appreciation goes further to Mr.
Michael Kontz from Gulf Indonesia for releasing radiometric data of the
volcanic rocks of Celebes and for the long discussions I have had with him on
the geology and the fascinating seismic profiles across the deep-sea trenches
and basins of eastern Indonesia. My further thanks go to P.T. Tropic Endeav-
our Indonesia for showing me the Gorontalo transform-fault system from
their radar imagery.
Finally I wish to thank Dr. F. Hehuwat, Director National Institute of
Geology and Mining in Bandung in assisting me to prepare the figures accom-
panying this paper.

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