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6. ANCIENT MAHAKAM DELTA
(Y. Kusumanegara)
Introduction
This guidebook records direct observation of
deltaic sedimentation and preservation that
reflect some critical elements of the
petroleum system in the Kutai Basin,
especially the spatial arrangement of
reservoirs and their bounding surfaces, source
and cap rocks. Detail stratal architecture, as
visualized from large outcrops, can be used to
extrapolate the spatial distribution of reservoir
geometry within a hierarchy of
sedimentologic and stratigraphic units. This
approach integrates sedimentology,
stratigraphy, petroleum geology, reservoir
engineering, geostatistics, and petrophysical
properties in order to understand geologic
controls governing reservoir heterogeneity.
Understanding of deltaic genetic units from
analog outcrops at Samarinda area (Allen et
al, 1997) contributes to the reservoir
management by providing qualitative and
possibly quantitative images of internal
Figure 6.1 - Physiographic and Tectonic setting of Kutai Basin;(A) Regional tectonic setting of Kutai
Basin. (B) Structural map shows N-S and NE-SW folds. (C) Geoseismic section across Kutai Basin. (D)
Interpretation of Inversion and Compression in Mahakam foldbelt (Clay et al., 2000).
reservoir structure in terms of heterogeneity
distributions and compartmentalization.
The direct observations of surface analog
geological features can be transferred to
subsurface stratal architecture of reservoir and
non-reservoir rocks by calibration techniques.
Relating a sedimentologic and stratigraphical
hierarchy to stratal pattern provides the means
for importing and calibrating outcrop-derived
data to reservoirs from other geologic settings
and/or reservoirs of different geologic ages.
By assuming the rock properties are function
of sedimentologic characters (Cross et al.,
1992) the systematic changes of
sedimentologic and stratigraphic patterns will
be important to study, in order to better
predict of reservoir sandbodies and their
properties across stratal geometry. During this
field trip, we will demonstrate that there are
predictable changes in stratal architectures,
facies arrangements (and proportions), and
their bounding surfaces that can be related to
stratigraphy.
On this field trip, beside the conventional
observation of Mahakam deltaic deposits, the
participants will observe how the stratigrapic

controls on sedimentologic characters change
from one deltaic genetic unit to the next. This
approach can be transferred to reservoir
characterization within the subsurface.
6.1 Physiography of the Samarinda area
The geological setting of Samarinda area is a
part of the Mahakam foldbelt (trending north-
northeast/south-southwest) and Samarinda
city is located at the eastern flank of the
Separi Anticline (Figure 6.1). This fold belt is
characterized by narrow asymmetric
anticlines separated by broad sysclines in
Miocene strata, and these folds range from 20
to 50 km in strike length with linear and
gently curved axes. The tight anticlines with
small fault-bounded and wide synclines in
this area were formed by contractional
reactivation and inversion structures that were
caused by rapid accumulation of deltaic
deposits, overlying thick overpressured
shales. This structuring was started at about
14 Ma and continued to the present day
(McClay et al., 2000).
Total thickness of Miocene strata cropping
out in the Samarinda area is in excess of 3000
m (Chambers et al., 1992), measured from the
east flank of Separi anticline to the west flank
of Prangat syncline. The overall stratigraphic
Figure 2. Stratigraphic nomenclature of
Samarinda area (A), and (B) Simplified
lithostigraphicrelationship Samrinda area
(east-west section).
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section represents a regressive sequence and
indicates Lower to Middle Miocene strata in
age (Allen et al, 1997). The progressive
seaward stepping of deltaic sediments is
mostly controlled by the regional uplift from
the Kuching high. This is a result of northwest
subduction of the South China sea plate
beneath Kalimantan (the Sunda plate). The
Samarinda area is not far from the center of
the Neogene Kutai Basin.
6.2. Stratigraphic framework
This field trip will visit outcrops of Lower-
Middle Miocene strata that crop out on the
east flank of the Separi anticline around the
Samarinda area (Figure 6.1). A generalized
stratigraphic column of this area (Figure 6.2)
was made by Land and Jones (1987) and has
been redefined by Chambers et al. (1992). A
conventional approach to stratigraphic
analysis, mostly based on lithostratigraphy
and a zonation system, has been applied in
previous studies of the Samarinda and
surrounding areas (van der Vlerk, 1931 and
Land & Jones, 1987). Carter & Morley (1996)
and Chambers et al. (1992) have done
extensive fieldwork in Samarinda area and
they tried to incorporate modern stratigraphy
by integrating a chronostratigraphic approach
to Lower – Upper Miocene strata.
6.3. Tectonic framework
The Samarinda area is located within the
Kutai Basin, bounded by a regional wrench
system in the north ( Sangkulirang fault) and
by the Adang Fault in the south. The local
geology of this area is mostly influenced by
the north-south Samarinda anticlinorium,
characterized by tight (narrow) anticlines and
wide (gentle) synclines with north-south and
northeast-southwest trending axes (Figure
6.3). The present configuration of major
structural framework was affected by regional
uplift and compression that started in Middle-
Upper Miocene (14 Ma) and was associated
with shale diapirism caused by overpressure
of thick marine shales in the eastern part of
Kutai basin (offshore). A recent regional study
(McClay et al., 2000) proposed a new tectonic
model of inverted delta growth faults for the
evolution of Mahakam foldbelt. The tight
anticlines and wide synclines of Mahakam

Figure 6.3 - Geological Cross Section of
Samarinda Anticlinorium and the SAR map of
Samarinda Area shows structural geology
foldbelt were formed by contractional
reactivation and inversion of gently inclined
structure and followed by extensional growth
faults. The overpressured prodelta shales were
generated by rapid progradation of delta
loading. The inversion in this area began at
approximately 14 Ma, and continued to the
present day as a result of northwest-directed
contraction related to regional collision and
subduction to the northwest of Kalimantan
(McClay et al., 2000).
6.4. Sedimentological and stratigraphic
approaches for reservoir characterization
Traditional facies analysis applies “process-
response” sedimentology to interpret the
sedimentary processes recorded by facies
architecture in ancient strata. Such facies
analyses are an application of Walther’s Law
(1896), whereby a generally conformable
stratal succession is related to regular and
progressive lateral migration and vertical
juxtaposition of adjacent environments
through time and space.
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In this guidebook, a more dynamic view of
sedimentology is proposed. “Dynamic
sedimentology” examines facies
arrangements within a stratigraphic context.
In this approach, facies, more than being just
indicators of depositional processes, are
related to stratigraphic position within a
hierarchy of chronostratigraphic units.
Stratigraphic changes in facies associations
are interpreted to record systematic changes
in accommodation, volumetric partitioning of
sediments in time and space, and facies
differentiation during short-term cycles
(Cross et al., 1992). Dynamic sedimentology
focuses on how different models of stratal
architecture change in time and space, as
opposed to constructing one simple facies
model for an entire rock sequence. Variations
in proportion, arrangement, and diversity of
facies, with respect to stratigraphic position,
records both changing depositional
environment and trends in preservation
controlled by changes in accommodation. The
diversity, proportion, and arrangement of
sedimentological structures and sediment
bodies in similar environments are used to
estimate changes in accommodation and
efficiency of sediment transport during
accommodation cycles.
Short-term stratigraphic cycles in the deltaic
sequence consist internally of four-fold
hierarchy of sedimentological elements that
control style and type of sediment
heterogeneity. These elements cover (1)
sedimentary structures and textures
comprising lithofacies, (2) macroforms
comprising reservoir flow units and
nonreservoir as barriers or retardants to flow,
(3) facies tracts, and (4) depositional systems.
Facies are defined by physical characteristics
(bedforms and surfaces of erosion and
nondeposition), biological characteristics
(flora and fauna constituents), and chemical
characteristics (composition of rock type and
cementing agents) of sedimentary rocks.
Facies associations record processes and can
show systematic spatial changes in hydraulic
regime (e.g. upward fining, waning-flow
succession in a fluvial channel). Facies
associations define larger scale
sedimentological elements, such as a
macroform (e.g. a point bar), an

Figure 6.4 - Hierarchy of Architectural elements in fluvial-deltaic depositional system
amalgamation of macroforms, or a broader
entity (e.g. wedge of marine shelf
mudstones). Similar facies associations
comprise facies tracts.
Arrangements, distribution, and volumetric
proportions of facies within tracts can vary
with stratigraphic positions. A facies tract is
the stratigraphic record of a broader
depositional environment (e.g. shallow-
marine environments) and the largest scale
sedimentary unit recording systematic facies
changes as a function of stratigraphic
position. A three-dimensional linkage of
contemporaneous facies tracts represents a
depositional system.
One common use of stratigraphic information
in reservoir characterization is to identify
attributes of continuity, diversity of
sedimentary structures (reservoir
heterogeneity) and petrophysical attributes to
manage a producing field or to step out
exploration. Calibration of attributes can be
made by measurements on analogous
outcropping rock units. In this field trip, high-
resolution stratigraphy will be applied to
examine details of deltaic reservoir and non-
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reservoir strata. The required detail in
observation of sedimentological hierarchy
becomes important in order to determine
relevant stratal units and their systematic
changes through stratigraphic position in time
and space.
High-resolution stratigraphic cycles (i.e.
parasequences) with depositional limits
confined within the facies tract record
autocyclicity. Such autocyclicity is governed
by depositional processes and
sedimentological feedback in response to
accommodation changes within facies tracts.
Autocyclic alterations of strata must be
distinguished from allocyclic successions for
correlation. For example, an upward-shoaling
sandstone succession may represent a
sediment body of local extent, or a regionally
extensive chronostatigraphic unit.
Recognizing systematic changes in allocyclic
units provides the basis for chrono-
stratigraphic correlation across depositional
environments. Such frameworks compare
changes in facies architecture within and
between a hierarchy of similar scale
chronostratigraphic units. A stratigraphic
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hierarchy records changes in: (1) facies

architecture, arrangement, and heterogeneity,
(2) lithology ratio and sediment volume, (3)
lithofacies diversity in sedimentological units
and facies successions, (4) degree of cycle
symmetry (the proportions of a unit
represented by rocks versus surfaces during
decrease and increase in accommodation),
and (5) magnitude of facies offset across
short-term cycle boundary (Figure 4).
Lower-Middle Miocene strata in the
Samarinda area can be divided into
fluvial/alluvial, delta-plain, delta-front,
prodelta and shelfal-marine facies tracts.
Fluvial/alluvial facies tracts are composed of
nonmarine deposits (fluvial channel and
floodplain). Delta-plain facies tracts record
deposition of transitional deposits from
shoreline to the supratidal (bayhead or pass of
a main river into the marine). Delta-front
facies tract record deposition of intertidal to
the subtidal zone. Shelfal marine facies tracts
record deposition between the prodelta (inner
shelf) to the outer shelf or below the fair-
weather wave base.