THE GEOLOGY OF HALMAHERA

The Halmahera island group is located in the northeastern part of the Indonesian
archipelago. It lies between latitudes 30N and 30S and between longitudes 250E and
30E (Fig. 1). The island is being 180 km from north to south and 70 km from west to
east, and is surrounded by the smaller islands of Morotai, Ternate, Bacan, Obi and
Gebe. To the west is the Molluca Sea and to the east is the southern part of the
Philippine Sea.

Halmahera Island has a remarkable four-armed morphology, resembling the letter K.

This shape is similar to Sulawesi Island to the west, but on a smaller scale; its
dimensions are about one third of those of Sulawesi and its surface area is about one
tenth. The bays between the arms are Kau Bay in the northeast, Buli Bay in the east and
Weda Bay in the south.

Generally, Halmahera Island is hilly or mountainous, except the flood plains of some
areas: e.g. the mouth of Kobe River in Weda bay and most of the eastern coast of the
SW arm. The northeast to southwest trending mountainous ridges alternating with
valleys in the NE arm have a relief which varies from 500m to over 1000 m, the highest
being 1508m, Bukit Saolat, in the central part of the island. The main ridge in NE
Halmahera is composed of structurally complex suite of imbricated ultrabasic, basic and
Mesozoic- Paleogene rocks which form the basement. In the NW arm the highest peak
is an active volcano (Mount Gonkonora 1700m). The SE arm has a more subdued
topography; there is a large area of soft calcareous sediment in the central part of this
arm.

The three areas of highest ground in the western and southwestern parts of the island
correspond to areas of outcrop of volcanic rocks; these are in the western part of central
zone (1170m), north of Saketa (where the hills rise very steeply to 1250m), and north of
Paspalele (830m). The only other area of particularly high ground in the SW arm is a
ridge east of Maidi formed of conglomerates which rises to 800m.

One of the characteristic features of the rivers of all sizes of Halmahera is that they are
generally deeply incised. They may level out into a flood plain close to the coast but
through most of their tracts they have steep-sided V-shaped valleys; in the middle and
lower parts of their courses the rivers are sinuous.

REGIONAL GEOLOGY

In general, based on physiographic and geologic features, Halmahera can be divided

into two province the western province and the eastern province (Fig. 2). The western
province is part of a young volcanic belt extending from Morotai, through the northern
part of Halmahera, Ternate and Tidore, to Bacan. The area is largely covered by
Neogene to Recent sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Basement rocks, exposed in the
southern part of Bacan Island, consist of continental crystalline rooks and deformed
basic and ultrabasic rocks (Van Bemmelen, 1970, Yasin, 1980, Hall et al. 1988a). The
basement rocks of the SW arm of Halmahera are volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks
associated with intrusive igneous rocks, They are exposed in the southern part and
along the west side of the SW arm, from Paspalele through Oha, from Saketa to Loku,
and from Maidi to Lola (Figs.3 k. 4). The eastern province forms an arc extending
eastward through the islands of Gebe and Gag towards the northern part of Bird’s Head

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of Irian Jaya. The area is underlain by an ophiolite complex and Mesozoic deep water
sediments, imbricated with Paleogene sediments and overlain by Neogene marine
clastics and carbonates (Sukamto et al., 1981; Suriatmadja, 1981). Basement rocks of
the SE arm of Halmahera consist of a complex of dismembered basic and ultrabasic
rocks, with a variable low grade metamorphic overprint, intercalated with Mesozoic and
Eocene sediments.

TECTONIC SETTING

Tectonically, Halmahera lies at the intersection of four rigid plates, the Australian, the
Philippine Sea, the Eurasian and the East Mindanao Plates (Hall et al. 1988c). The
Australian Plate lies to the south and is bounded to the north by the Sorong Fault
system, which is a complex transpressive zone extending eastward from Papua New
Guinea more than 1500 km along the northern margin of Irian Jaya and westward some
800 km towards Sulawesi (Fig. 7). This system separates the westward-moving plates to
the north from the Australian Plate with a displacement estimated to be as much as
600km (Hamilton, 1979). The Philippine Sca Plate is currently moving westwards with
respect to the Australian Plate at about 12cm/year (Moore, 1982). The western boundary
of the Philippine Sea Plate (which includes Halmahera) is the Philippine Trench which is
linked to the Halmahera Trench.

The Eurasian Plate (Hall, 1987) has its eastern boundary at the Philippine Fault and
continues southward into the West Halmahera Thrust of Silver & Moore (1978). The
Eurasian Plate in the region of SE Asia and the Philippines is a complex region which
includes numerous small ’plates’ which are moving semi-independently. One of these is
the East Mindanao Plate which is bounded by the Philippine Fault to the west and the
Philippine Trench to east. The East Mindanao Plate is not significant on a global scale;
the plate is very narrow and is currently not moving independently of either the Eurasian
or the Philippine Sea Plates. The motions of these four plates relative to one another
cannot be determined precisely at present. Hall (1987) indicates the Eurasia-Philippine
Sea convergence is distributed between the three plates north of the Sorong Fault.
Since the motion of the East Mindanao Plate is not determined, the motions of the
Philippine Sea, East Mindanao and Eurasian Plates are not known. However, the known
relative motion of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates (Ranken et al., 1984) does
provide a useful constraint and further constraints are provided by observations of
lengths of subducted slabs in the region (Cardwell et al., 1980; Fig. 8) and rate of motion
on the Philippine Fault. Hall (1987) proposed that convergence between the Philippine
Sea Plate (Halmahera) and the Eurasian Plate (Fig. 9) has occurred by: a) Subduction at
the Sangihe Trench and sinistral strike-slip motion at the Philippine Fault which has
moved the Eurasian Plate southwards relative to the East Mindanao Plate. b)
Subduction in opposite directions at the Philippine Trench and the Halmahera Trench.
The Philippine Sea Plate has been subducted westwards beneath the East Mindanao
Plate at the Philippine Trench and the East Mindanao Plate has been subducted
eastward beneath the Philippine Sea Plate at the Halmahera Trench. It follows that the
U-shaped Molucca Sea slab is the subducted equivalent of the East Mindanao Plate.

The relative motion of the three plates north of the Sorong Fault has eliminated the East
Mindanao Plate in the Molucca Sea and in this region the Eurasian and Philippine Sea
Plates are now in contact. Therefore, as a result of convergence in the Molucca Sea
region, the Halmahera forearc (the Philippine Sea Plate) has been very recently over-
ridden by the Sangihe forearc (the leading edge of the Eurasian Plate, Hall, 1987). Hall

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(1987) interpreted the west-dipping thrust observed in the Molucca Sea (the West
Halmahera Thrust of Silver & Moore, 1978) as the frontal thrust of the Sangihe forearc
(Fig.9) which is regarded as the continuation of the Philippine Fault. The east-dipping
thrust on the west side of the Molucca Sea, the East Sangihe Thrust of Silver & Moore,
(1978) is considered to be a back thrust developing in the overthrust wedge. The
consequence of this collision of the two forearcs, which must have occurred within the
last 1Ma, is that the Philippine Sea Plate in the region of southern Halmahera is now
under compression and has a vertical load imposed on its leading edge as the Sangihe
forearc overthrusts the Halmahera forearc. The Halmahera region therefore flexes,
resulting in uplift of the SW arm and subsidence in the Weda Bay region (Hall et al.,
1988o).

A consequence of the model (Hall et al., 1988c) is that the nature of the deformation
seen in the Halmahera region is a result of the blunt wedge shape of the plate boundary
linking the Halmahera Trench to the Philippine Trench. As the Philippine Sea Plate
moved west relative to the East Mindanao Plate the blunt wedge was driven into a
smaller wedge shaped space. The result has been the development of a system of
dextral strike-slip faults, a thickening of the Halmahera wedge, and a westward advance
of the Halmahera Trench at a rate faster than subduction is occurring at the Philippine
Trench.

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY

A structural investigation has not formed part of the present study. The summary below
of the structure of the area in which the rocks of this study were collected is based on
Hall et al. (1988o).

The SW arm is structurally simple. Its present-day topography is highly asymmetrical

with a steep west-facing side, clearly fault-controlled, and an eastern surface dipping
gently towards Weda Bay. Three cross sections across the SW arm (Fig.6.A-C) show
the asymmetry clearly. Shallow wide reefs run ofFshore the eastern coast of the SW arm
and the gentle eastward dip of the land surface continues offshore into Weda Bay.
Volcanic rocks of the Oha Volcanic Formation form a rigid basement and topographically
high terrain on the west side of the SW arm and are overlain by Late Miocene
sedimentary rocks of the Superak Formation (Fig.6.A- C). The Neogene sedimentary
rocks dip consistently east (Fig.6.A-C). The dip decreases rapidly from the oldest parts
of the cover (up to 7(P eastward in the Superak Formation) over an outcrop width of less
than 2 km at the base of the sequence. The dip of most of the Neogene cover rocks is
less than 300, and declines to approximately 100 at the east coast. The morphology of
the western coast of the SW arm is very clearly controlled by steep faults. There are no
significant areas of coastal plains or terraces and for long stretches of the western coast
there are no substantial beaches at all.

The Central Zone extends across the narrow neck of the Halmahera K. The neck
contains a range of low mountains with rivers draining into Kau and Weda Bays. West of
the neck the mountains rise to a high dissected plain which descends steeply on its west
side into the Molucoa Sea. The steep west coast is evidently controlled by high angle
faults. The Central Zone has a basement of Oha Volcanic Formation overlain
unconformably by folded Neogene sediments (Fig.6.E). The Neogene rooks are
deformed by tight folds with an overall north- south axial trend. To the west it appears
that these folded rocks are unconformably overlain by younger lavas which dip gently

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west. Above the folded Neogene sedimentary rocks is an overthrust sheet of Subaim
Limestone Formation and younger rocks emplaced from the east. A cross-section of the
Central Fold and Thrust Belt is shown on Fig.6.E and an interpretation of the cross-
section is shown on Fig.6.F. The age of the folding and thrusting is constrained by the
youngest deformed rocks in the Central Zone. A mid to late Pliocene age (N20/N21)
indicates that this deformation event must have occurred no earlier than about 3 Ma.

The SE arm has roughly parallel north and south coasts trending WNW-ESE. It has a
low central region which rises to the west, north and east giving the SE arm the form of a
broad open half-basin, tilted southwards, with its southern part truncated by the coast.
The Ophiolitic Basement Complex forms high mountains at the west end of the SE arm.
In the central part of the SE arm are the soft marls and limestones of the Saolat
Formation. At the east end of the SE arm is a large basement window cut through by the
Gowonli and Paniti Rivers. The Gowonli, Paniti Formations and Ophiohtic Basement
Complex within the window are unconformably overlain by the Subaim Limestone
Formation whioh dips outward from the window. The Subaim Limestone Formation is
separated from the Saolat Formation by a thrust flat with the basement window
representing a hanging wall anticline above a ramp in the thrust plane. The thrust ramps
up from a flat within the basement at a depth of about 3 km, then follows the base of the
Subaim Limestone Formation for several kilometres before cutting up section through
the Saolat Formation. The cross-section (Fig.6.D), assuming east- west contraction,
implies that minimum shortening is of the order of 20 km.

STRATIGRAPHY

The descriptions of the stratigraphic units in southern and eastern Halmahera are based
on field observations and subsequent work undertaken as part of the 1987, 1990 and
1993 GRDC Halmahera Expedition (Fig. 5). The Eastern Halmahera basement includes
ophiolitic, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The ophiolite is made up of strongly
sheared and brecciated mafic and ultramafic rocks including serpentinized peridotite,
gabbro, basalt and diabase (Sukamto et al., 1981). Hall et al. (1988a) noted that the
basement complex is not dominated by ultrabasic rocks, although the rock types seen
vary considerably from area to area, and the basement complex includes about 30%
ultrabasic rocks. Basic plutonic rocks are abundant, and are associated with basic
volcanic rocks, greenschists, amphibolites and rare blueschists. Deep water sediments
include red radiolarian chert and red mudstones. The oldest dated sedimentary rocks
are those of the Buli Group (Fig.5). This group includes formations which range in age
from Cretaceous to Eocene: the Gau Limestone, Dodaga Breccia, Paniti, Gowonli and
Sagea Formations (Hall et al., 1988a; 1988c) of the SE and NE arms. The formations of
the group have the following characteristics in common: a) with the older basic and
ultrabasic rocks they form the basement to the eastern arms of Halmahera; b) they are
all considered to have been deposited in a forearc setting, in varying depths of water; c)
they are all more or less deformed, especially in the NE arm where they are imbricated
with the Ophiolitic Basement Complex and cannot be mapped as separate units. The
oldest rocks in the Buli Group are the Gowonli Formation of the SE arm and the Gau
Limestone Formation of the NE arm. The Gowonli Formation is interpreted as the
deposit of a basin situated in the forearc of an active arc. The lower part of the sequence
is dominated by coarse volcaniclastic material and was deposited in the early stages of
basin development in a relatively proximal position. Much of material was probably
deposited as debris flows. The basal contact is not observed, but the Gowonli Formation
probably rests unconformably on the ophiolitic basement complex. The top of the

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formation is not seen, but the presence of material derived from the Gowonli Formation
as clasts in the basal conglomerates of the Paniti Formation indicates that the upper
contact of the Gowonli Formation is an unconformity. The Gau Limestone Formation is
interpreted as a deep water carbonate formation deposited m an equatorial ocean basin
with subordinate volcaniclastic material derived from active arc volcanism at its margin
(Hall et al., 1988a). The formation is interpreted as originally resting unconformably on
the ophiolitic basement. The top of the formation is a gradational transition to the
Dodaga Breccia Formation.

The oldest rocks known from the SW arm are the probable Cretaceous to Eocene Oha
Volcanic Formation which consists of basalts and basaltic andesites (Hakim, 1989). The
volcanic rocks are typically calc-alkaline and have trachytic textures, with an alignment
of plagioclase feldspar microlites in the groundmass of the rocks, typical of textures in
lava flows. The basement volcanics are pervasively altered and alteration minerals
include zeolites, chlorite and epidote. The lower contact of these volcanics is not
observed and the upper contact is probably an unconformity overlain by Neogene
sedimentary rocks. Between the mid Eocene and mid Oligocene there was a major
imbrication event which uplifted the Basement Complex. Uplift and erosion is marked by
an unconformable contact between the Ophiolitic Basement Complex and late
Paleogene and Neogene sedimentary rooks: the Onat Marl Formation, the Jawali
Conglomerate Formation and the Subaim Limestone Formation of the NE arm (Hall et al.
1988a); and the Gemaf Conglomerate Formation (Hall et al. 1988c) and the Subaim
Limestone Formation of the SE arm.

The contact between the Onat Marl Formation and the Buli Group has not been
observed and the formation is interpreted to be overlain unconformably by the Jawali
Conglomerate and the Subaim Limestone. (Hall et al., 1988b). In the NE arm the Jawali
Conglomerate also rests unconformably on the Basement Complex; it is a conglomerate
of fluvial origin (Hall et al., 1988b) and passes up into limestones of the Miocene Subaim
Formation. The Subaim Limestone Formation is a massive or well-bedded limestone of
reef or reef-derived material with rare clastic intervals. In the SE arm the Gemaf
Conglomerate rests unconformably on the Ophiolitic Basement and is conformably
overlain by the Subaim Limestone. The Gemaf Conglomerate Formation consists of dark
conglomerates, containing well-rounded clasts of ophiolitic debris, and well-sorted dark
sands of littoral origin. In the SW arm and the Central Zone, the Subaim Limestone
Formation occurs only in small outcrops and as pebbles in younger sediments.

During the Late Miocene subsidence occurred in the SE arm and the Saolat Formation
was deposited. The Saolat Formation is a thick sequence of fossiliferous calcareous
mudstones and micritic limestones interbedded locally with sandstones and
conglomerates containing ophiolitic debris. A transitional stratigraphic contact with the
underlying Subaim Limestone Formation is seen. The top of the formation has not been
observed in the SE arm, but in the NE arm the Wasile Sandstone Formation was
deposited conformably on the Saolat Formation. The Wasile Formation includes
turbiditic sandstones and conglomerates considered to represent part of a prograding
submarine fan, with the higher beds representing upper-fan channel deposits (Hall et al.,
1988b).

A different stratigraphic sequence is found in the SW arm. The Loku Formation was
deposited during the Late Miocene; it consists mainly of sandstones, mudstones and
conglomerates which are turbidites and debris flows of material derived from a terrain of

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volcanic arc rocks and reef limestones. The base of the Loku Formation is not seen. The
Loku Formation is thought to be overlain unconformably by the Superak Formation of the
Weda Group. The Superak Formation rests unconformably on older rocks. The upper
part of the formation is considered to pass conformably into the Dufuk and Akelamo
Formations. The Superak Formation consists of conglomerates and laterally equivalent
shallow water sandstones. It includes channel conglomerates and was probably
deposited in a fan delta setting. During the late Miocene to early Pliocene, the Akelamo
Formation, consisting mainly of calcareous mudstones rich in organic debris, was
deposited. It has a discontinuous distribution in the Central Zone and SW arm. The
Akelamo Formation is conformably above, and has a transitional contact with, the
Superak Formation and although the upper contact with the Dufuk Formation is not
seen, it is believed to be conformable. The Dufuk Formation consists of calcareous
sandstones, siltstones, mudstones and conglomerates. The formation is fossiliferous
and rich in organic material and was deposited in a shallow marine environment. This
formation is conformably overlain by the Gola Formation on the SW arm, while in the
Central Zone it is overlain by the Tapaya and Tafonga Volcanic Formations.

The Gola Formation consists of calcareous mudstones and limestones and contains a
fully marine fauna indicating an open marine carbonate shelf environment in the
Pliocene. The paucity of siliciclastic debris is interpreted as indicating deposition remote
from any source of terrigenous clastics. Renewed volcanic activity in the Central Zone is
recorded by the Tapaya and Tafonga Volcanic Formations which contain conglomerates,
sandstones, tuffs, basalts and andesites, with extrusive volcanics dominating the upper
part of the sequence (Hall et al. 1988b). Shallow marine to littoral tu6aceous sandstenes
of the Kulefu Formation are the youngest formation of the Weda Group in the SW arm.
This formation is probably laterally equivalent to the Tapaya and Tafonga Volcanic
Formations.

A period of deformation and uplift followed by erosion occurred prior to deposition of

Quaternary reef limestones, alluvium and volcanic rocks which rest unconformably on
older rocks.

COMPARISON OF HALMAHERA WITH OTHER AREAS

It is useful to compare the geology and tectonics of Halmahera with the islands of the
Philippines situated to the north of Halmahera. The basement rocks of the Halmahera
region are Mesozoic ophiolitic rocks and an upper Cretaceous to lower Tertiary arc and
forearc sequence. Mindanao has a basement of serpentinites, peridotite, gabbros,
diorites, basalts, andesites and the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks (Ranneft et al.,
1960). These rocks may be traceable northwards into the eastern Philippines. Karig
(1983) interprets eastern Luzon basement rocks as part of an east- facing upper
Cretaceous-lower Tertiary arc system; all present-day arcs east of Luzon were formed
more recently. An island arc system extended around the western Pacific, the remains of
which can be traced from the east Philippines through Halmahera into New Guinea (Hall
et al., 1988a).

The Mesozoic and Eocene sediments have notable stratigraphical and petrological
similarities to the Marianas forearc and the Eastern Halmahera Basement Complex is
interpreted as a pre- Oligocene forearc (Hall et al., 1988a). In contrast, the southern part
of the island of Bacan at the southwestern end of the Halmahera group has a basement
of high-grade continental metamorphic rocks associated with a deformed ophiolitic

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complex quite different to the basement of eastern Halmahera (Hall et al., 1988a). Bacan
is underlain by continental basement, as indicated by exposures in the Sibela Mountains
and by the chemistry of Quaternary volcanic rocks on Bacan which indicate a continental
crustal contribution to lavas (Morris et al., 1983). Halmahera on the other hand, is
underlain by rocks which formed part of an arc region until the end of the Eocene and
has no continental basement. The continental basement of Bacan must have originated
in the Australian continental margin exposed in New Guinea (Hamilton, 1979). The
continental fragment of Bacan is separated from Halmahera by a splay of the Sorong
Fault system which passes through Bacan (Hall et al., 1988a). this is probably the
extension of the Molucca-sorong Fault which is one of several splays of the sorong Fault
zone identified by seismic reflection work (Letouzey et al., 1983a) between Halmahera
and Seram.

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