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An outline of the geology of Indonesia

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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
I ndonesia is the largest archipelagic state in
the world comprising five major islands
and about 300 smaller island groups. Alto-
gether there are 13,667 islands and islets of
which about 6,000 are inhabited. The archipel-
ago is situated on a crossroad between two
oceans, the Pacific and Indian oceans, and
bridges two continents, the Asian and Austra-
lian. Indonesia has a total area of 9.8 million sq
km, of which more than 7.9 million sq km are
under water. Physiographically, the islands of
Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan are attached to
the Sunda Shelf of the Asian continent. On this
landmass the water depth does not exceed 200
meters. To the east, Irian Jaya and the Aru is-
lands lie on the Sahul Shelf, which are parts of
the Australian continent. Located between
these two shelves is the island group of Nusa
Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku and Halmahera.
These islands are encircled by deep seas which
in many places reach 5,000 meters. About 60
Tertiary sedimentary basins, spread out from
Sumatra in the west to Irian Jaya in the east,
are identified in Indonesia. So far only 38 ba-
sins have been explored and drilled for petro-
leum and 14 of them are now producing oil and
gas. 73 percent of these basins are located off-
shore, about one third of them in the deeper
sea, with water depth exceeding 200 m.
1.1. HISTORY OF GEOLOGICAL STUD-
IES
Intensive geological surveys, research, and
publication conducted under Dutch colonial
government, which gradually spread through-
out Indonesia. Many significant surveys and
publications were made in the latter years ofthe
nineteenth century. Many eminent geologist
either worked in Indonesia or took part in well-
organized expeditions there. The Geological
Survey of the Netherlands Indies lasted from
1850 to 1950, with its headquaters in Bandung
and the Bureau of Mines in Batavia (then Ja-
karta). During that time, the regular survey
publication was the series Jaarboek van het
Mijnwezen, published in Batavia. In addition,
several books and many articles were pub-
lished in Europe on the geology of Indonesia.
3. NATUNA
Virtually everything ceased in 1941 with the
outbreak of war.
Many famous Dutch geologists wrote about
Indonesia. Some authors who synthesized the
earlier work and built upon it in their books
have been recorded below. The earliest and
widest compilation was by Brouwer (1925).
Rutten gave a series of lectures in 1927 to 1932
and his books brought the attention of the
world to this fascinating region of Southeast
Asia. Umbrove (1949) also did much to sum-
marize the prominent features of Indonesia.
However, it was by the impressive work of van
Bemmelen (1949, reprinted in 1970) that the
geology of Indonesia and Southeast Asia be-
came well known. Van Bemmelen hand been a
member of the Geological Survey of the Neth-
erlands Indies since 1927, and was working on
the manuscript in Bandung in 1941 when the
Japanese invaded. He was interned during the
war. Mention should also be made of the novel
gravity measurements made by Vening
Meinesz in the submarine K XIII in 1927,
1929, and 1930. Through his work, the unique
nature of the deep-sea trenches of the Indone-
sian region was brought to the attention of the
world (Vening Mainesz, 1954).
The literature of the Indonesian region is
rich and varied, but for most people Van Bem-
melen (1970) will serve as a summary. Since
the war and the independence of Indonesia, the
Geological Survey of Indonesia has made great
progress in better understanding this vast and
complicated country. The book by Hamilton
(1979), which summarized most of the later
work, is now widely known, and it interprets
the region in modern plate tectonics terminol-
ogy. Katili is one of Indonesian geologists who
wrote numerous publications, especially on the
tectonic of the region. Many other Indonesian
geologists contributed remarkable publications
through both regional and international jour-
nals recently. The Indonesian Geologist Asso-
ciation (founded in 1960) and the Indonesian
Petroleum Association (founded in 1971) pub-
lished proceedings of the their annual conven-
tions with important technical papers, which
1
AN OUTLINE OF THE GEOLOGY OF INDONESIA

Fig. 1.1. Crust map of Indonesia (Simandjuntak & Barber, 1996)

many geologists referring to. area represents the subemerged souteastern

outgrowth of the Eurasian contienantal plate
1.2. REGIONAL TECTONIC FRAME- and comprises peninsular Malaysia, most of
WORK Sumatra, Java and Borneo, mosr of the Java
Sea and the southern part of the South China
The Indonesian archipelago is situated on Sea.
the southeastern extension of the Eurasian
Plate. It is bounded to the south and west by The shelfal area, consisting of intensely de-
the Indon-Australian (Indian Ocean) Plate, and formed pre-Tertiary sedimentary and crystaline
to the east by the Philippine Sea and Pacific igneous and metamorphic rocks, has been tec-
Plates. The margin of the plates are in colli-
sion, resulting in the consumption of plates
along subduction zones, the creation of vol-
canic arcs, and the formation of compressional
and oblique slip structures. It is generenally ac-
knoledged that the physiographic setting of the
Inndonesian archipealgo is dominated by two
so called continental shelfal regions. The
Sunda shelf area (or Sundaland to erverl au-
thors) lies to the west, and the Sahuls shelf area
to the east, separated by a geologically com-
plex region of deep sea basins and island arcs.

Both shelfal areas provide some semblance

of stable continental cores to the eastern and
western halves of the archipelago. The Sahul
shelf area, part of Indin Ocean-Australian con-
tinental plate, extends through most of Irian
Jaya, the Arafura Sea and the soutern part of
the Timor Sea and southward on towards the
present Australian landmass. Th Sunda shelf Fig. 1.2. Index map for Figure 1.3

2

Fig. 1.3 Sections across Western Indonesia (Katili, 1981)
tonically stable since Teritary time. The more
unstable marginal parts has been subjected to
Tertiary mountain building and accompanying
subsidence movements and presently expresses
itself as a volcanic inner arc of islands (trench-
slope break). The volcanic arc comprises Su-
matra, Java and extends furhter estward into
the Lesser Sunda Islands of Bali, Lombok,
Sumbawa, Flores and the smaller isalands rim-
ming the Banda Sea to the east and northeast.
3. NATUNA
The non-volcanic outer arc compirses the is-
lands owest of Sumatra and a submarine ridge
south of Java, with the non-volcanic islands of
Timor, Tanimbar, Kai and Seram believed to
bits eastern continuation.
Western Indonesia is chiefly an area of Ter-
tiary sedimentary deposition, whereast eastern
Indonesia was a major depocentre throughout
late Paleozoic and Mesozoic time. Belief in the
3
AN OUTLINE OF THE GEOLOGY OF INDONESIA
Fig. 1.4 Fault system of Indonesia illustrating sequential Cainozoic deformation. The map display plate frag-
structural continuity of the Sumatra, Java,
Banda Sea arcs (also known as Sunda arc) with
the two continental domains of the Sunda Shelf
and the Sahul Shelf has been widely accepted
in the past but it now appears that these arcs
are the resulting features of long term plate
convergence. Actually, it was not until the late
1960's that the new concepts were introduced
to describe the geologic evolution of the Indon-
sian archipelago. these ideas negated the older
tectonic models developed in the 1930's and
the 1940's which followed the concept of sev-
eral orogenic belts forming an arcuate (or con-
centric) pattern around the core of Sundaland
in ever widening areas towards the Indian
Ocean.
When the new concept of global plate tec-
tonics were introduced in 1967, western Indo-
nesia (i.e. Sumatra and its surrounding regions)
became a major focus of attention for further
investigation. This region, with its deep sea
trenches, volcanic chains, sedimentary basins
and cratonic continental areas, is situated at the
convergence of a northward moving Indian
4
Ocean plate subduction beneath the Eurasian
continental plate.
Studies were made by Hatherton and Dick-
inson (1969), Fitch (1970), Hamilton (1970,
1979), and Katili (1971) but it was not until
1973 that the first plate tectonic model of west-
ern Indonesia was published by Katili. In this
model, the following structural zones are listed
along transverse sections of Sumatra & Java:
1. The active subduction zone
2. The magmatic of volcanic arcs
3. The foreland (back-arc) basins.
The subduction zones have systematically
moved farther away from the continent towards
the Indian Ocean. The magmatic zones also
show a zonal arrangement but the ages of the
volcanics and granitic zones do not necessarily
become younger towards the ocean. This posed
problems to earlier investigators postulating
the theory of a concentric arrangement of oro-
gens but is explained by the supposition that
the dips of the Benioff zones varied with time
(Katili, 1980), Lithospheric descent in western
Indonesia (i.e. Sumatra) also appears to have

occurred during Permian, Jurassic, Cretaceous,
Miocene and Pliocene times and continuous
today. Broadly speaking, the back-arc
(foreland) basins occuring within this plate tec-
tonic setting determine the position of the oil
bearing Tertiary basins. In a more detailed sub-
division, the following structural elements may
be noted:
1.The trench
2.The non-volcanic outer island arc
3.The fore-rac basinsn (on the arc-
trench gap)
4.The volcanic / magmatic rec
5.The back arc basins.
6.The Sunda continental craton
Presently known and established hydrocar-
bon production is primarily confined to the
back-arc basins of North Sumatra, Central Su-
matra, South Sumatra, Sunda and the north
Java basinal area. Significant oil production
also comes from the East Kalimantan basins.
Additional production comes from the Natuna
Sea in the Sunda Craton which is the south-
eastern-most part of the Eurasian continental
plate. The Sulawesi-Banda sea region in east-
ern Indonesia is apparently a focal point of
convergence between three plates: the west-
bound Pacific oceanic plate; the northbound
Australian continental plate; and the Eurasian
continental plate in the north and west. The re-
sulting complicated geologic setting certainly
needs further research, particularly with regard
to tectonic development and hydrocarbon
maturation and migration history within the
various basins. However, within the U-shaped
Banda arc region the following features are
presently be recognized: 1. An inner ridge,
comprising the volcanic islands of Bali, Sum-
bawa, Flores, Wetar, Damar and Banda Api.
2. An outer ridge, comprising the islands of
Sawu, Roti, Timor, Leti, Babar, Tanimbar, Kai,
Watubela, Seram and Buru which consist
mainly of subduction melanges and imbricate
complexes of Tertiary age.
3. Outer-arc basins, which include the Lom-
bok basin, the Sawu basin and 'further east, the
Weber Basin.
4. The trench, over 6,000 m deep south of
Bali and Sumbawa and over 5,000 m deep
north of Buru, elsewhere averages 2,000 m in
depth (Hamilton, 1979). The next generation of
prospect areas is likely to focus on some of
these outer-arc ba-sins together with the shelf
basins within the Arafura shelf region. This is
in addition to the onshore and offshore exten-
3. NATUNA
sions of the known Salawati, Bintuni, Aki-
meugah, Merauke and Waropen basins in Irian
Jaya, the Seram basin of the island of Seram
and the offshore basins in the Sulawesi region.
In contrast to the western part of Indonesia,
wrench faults with a wide variety of orienta-
tions are far more common in eastern Indone-
sia. A different style of basin development re-
sults from the complex faulting and requires
different exploration concepts and strategies.
1.4. REGIONAL STRATIGRAPHY
1.4.1. BASEMENT The term of basement
was long, and still is, viewed as a complex of
mostly crystalline metamorphic rocks, which
underlies a sedimentary basin. The simplistic
preoccupation towards the basement was usu-
ally perceived them as pre-Tertiary rocks origi-
nated in continental environment. The advents
of plate tectonics and recent progresses ob-
tained through studies of metamorphic rocks in
the country have gradually eliminated such a
misleading presumption. The Indonesian archi-
pelago is broadly formed by two continental
masses — each corresponds to the amalga-
mated Eurasian plate in the west and Austra-
lian plate in the east, respectively — and the
intervening Tertiary collision zone in the mid-
dle. Rapid uplift in this Tertiary collision zone
has facilitated adequate studies during the last
two decades, whereas other investigation in
other parts of the continental masses were
mostly hindered by extensive coverage of Ce-
nozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks and lo-
gistical problems as well. Three major types of
orogenies in Indonesia may be recognized.
1.The Sunda type, representing the narrow
and well-defined Late Mesozoic Cordilleran-
type Meratus —Karangsambung orogen along
the rim of the southeastern Sundaland and the
Neogene orogeny stretching across Sumatra,
Java and Nusatenggara. Suspected collision of
microcontinent occurred in the Meratus-
Karangsambung orogen.
2.The Makassar ,type, which spatially out-
boards the Meratus-Karangsambung orogen,
constitutes Oligocene and Miocene orogenies
as a result of consecutive subduction obduction
events of the East Arm of Sulawesi and the
docking of Australian-derived microcontinents
onto Sulawesi 3.The Banda type, which is
characterized by repeated pre-collisional ob-
ductions of short-lived spreading ridges in
front of the Australian passive margins, took
place in Oligocene and Miocene, respectively.
Understanding the Indonesian orogeny from
5
AN OUTLINE OF THE GEOLOGY OF INDONESIA
the perspective of basement geology has not
arrived its mature stage, although significant
contributions have been documented. With re-
gard to the whole earth tectonics paradigm, fur-
ther studies, particularly dedicated on the
ophiolite emplacement- metamorphism rela-
tion, deserve further attention.
1.4.2. PALEOZOIC
Parts of Southeast Asia show evidence of
having Paleozoic or older continental crust.
These include small fragments in the Philip-
pine and Indonesian archipelagoes, New
Guinea and adjoining shelves, and (the main
area) a large mass consisting of nearly all of
Fig. 1.5 Distribution of Paleozoic and Mesozoic outcrops in Indonesia (after Umbgrove, 1938; Sartono, 1979;
van Gorsel, 2014)
6
mainland Southeast Asia most of Sumatra,
southwestern Borneo, and parts of the border-
ing and intervening seas. Ophiolite belts, prob-
able sutures, and contrasting geology across
them indicate that this main mass is a mosaic
of different fragments or blocks (Staufer,
1983). The Barisan Mountain Range in Suma-
tra occupies the axial part of the island and is
composed mainly of Permo-Carboniferous to
Mesozoic rocks (Fig. 1.5). They have been
weakly metamorphosed and are mainly mafic
to intermediate volcanics and volcaniclastics,
slates, phyllites, wackes and limestones (Page
& Young, 1981). The oldest fossiliferous for-

mations of Kalimantan are found in the north-
west domain of the island (Fig. 1.5), consist of
Late Carboniferous limestone and marble con-
taining diagnostic fusulinids. These crop out in
small areas of both West Kalimantan
(Emmichoven, 1939) and Sarawak (Sanderson
1966). Devonian limestone was found by Wit-
kamp in 1925 and concluded as boulders
within Permian section (Sugiaman & Andria,
1999). In Kalimantan the limestone and marble
flank a unit comprising schist, phyllite and
quartzite with garnet grade greenschist facies
assemblages. Small areas of similar schist are
present in Sarawak (Pimm, 1965). In Kaliman-
tan the metamorphic rocks are intruded by bio-
tite granite which yields K-Ar ages from Per-
mian to Late Triassic (Williams et al, 1989)
The Permian limestones and basalts of the
Maubisse formation in Timor Island reflect
sedimentation during rift formation of the Pa-
leo-Tethys Sea. Stratigraphic contacts with
coeval Early Permian Atahoc and Late Permian
Cribas formation are rare but exist, suggesting
accumulation of elastics proximal to the rift
zone in a tectonically linked but separate basin.
Intra-basinal crustal flexure and extension are
reflected by basalts in the Maubisse and be-
tween the Atahoc and Cribas formation (Bird,
1987 & Sawyer et al., 1993). In Irian Jaya, the
Paleozoic Kariem and Awitagoh formations
are considered to belong to the oldest rock in
the island. The Kariem formation consists of a
monotonous alternation of gray to black slaty
shales and siltstones with lighter pyrilllitic
slates and bands of finegrained quartzites. The
whole formation is silicified while dissemi-
nated pyrite is common throughout. The
Awitagoh formation consists of highly altered
dark limestones and volcanic breccias. The
whole sequence is intensely silicified and calci-
fied. These two formations are grouped as pre-
Permo-Carboniferous sequences by Wegen
(1966).
1.4.3. MESOZOIC
In western Indonesia, Mesozoic rocks gener-
ally occur in Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan
(Fig. 1.5). Triassic limestones are found in
west Sumatra above the Permian limestones.
Many of the granitic rocks in West Kalimantan
contain a strong foliation, and the Late Triassic
ages are obtained from biotites within the de-
formed rock. Jurassic fossils have been identi-
fied from several localities in the region
(Easton, 1904). The Jurassic interval appear to
form a conformable sequence with the Triassic
3. NATUNA
strata. In the far west spilite appears to overlie
the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic sedimentary
sequences, which are only mildly deformed.
Late Jurassic near shore detritus and shallow
marine limestone form a marginal facies to the
north-trending trough containing dominantly
Cretaceous sandy turbidites and calcareous
mudstone (Williams et al, 1989). The Meso-
zoic rocks exposed in some islands of the east-
ern Indonesia region (Fig. 1.5) have experi-
enced rift-drift characters in the form of conti-
nental fragments with only partly oceanic. In
some examples they reveal a tectonic contact
with the oceanic. These Mesozoic rocks are en-
countered in the islands of Sulawesi, Buton,
Banggai-Sula, Buru, Seram, Timor, Hal-
mahera, Misool, Irian Jaya and in some of
smaller islands. In Sulawesi, the Mesozoic
rocks are exposed in the west-, southeast- and
east-arms. In the west-arm, the rocks are a tur-
bidite type and overlie low- to high-grade
metamorphic rocks which were derived from
the Eurasian continent. The continental terrain
exposes in the southeast arm indicates terres-
trial sedimentary rocks, probably derived from
the Australian Continent. The terrain has been
under-thrusted into ophiolite overlain by a deep
marine carbonate exist in east-arm of Sulawesi.
These rocks have been thrusted onto the rocks
of the Banggai-Sula terrain eastward in Middle
Miocene and onto Cretaceous high-grade meta-
morphic rocks to the west. The Mesozoic rocks
exposed in Buton and Banggai-Sula islands
(Fig. 1.5) have similar terrain with those Meso-
zoic rocks exposed in the southeast-arm of Su-
lawesi. In Buton, elastic sediments and carbon-
ate rocks are interpreted to have been deposited
in shallow to deep marine environments. The
Mesozoic rocks in the Banggai-Sula show peri-
ods transgressive succession. The terrestrial
low-grade metamorphosed sedimentary rocks
gradually changes into transition to shallow
marine environments and fine-grained elastic
and carbonate of deep marine origin. Buru and
Seram islands are considered to be micro-
continents bordered by the south Banda Basin.
The Mesozoic sediments occurring in the is-
lands (Fig. 1.5) are typical of flysch of marine
elastics and carbonates. These rocks were de-
fined as the Triassic Dalan and Gegan Forma-
tions (Buru Island), and also Kanikeh and
Manusela Formations (Seram Island). These
units are unconformably overlain by the Juras-
sic Cretaceous Nief Beds (Seram Island), Mefa
and Kuma Formations (Buru Island) respec-
tively. The Nief Beds are characteristic of deep
7
AN OUTLINE OF THE GEOLOGY OF INDONESIA
marine carbonate. The Mefa Formation com-
prises submarine volcanics, while the Kuma
Formation is composed of fine elastic and car-
bonate. Most Jurassic- Cretaceous rocks in
Buru and Seram were deposited in a shallow to
deep marine environment. A collision event in
Timor and its surrounding islands during Neo-
gene time resulted in an amalgamated of pre-
collision Mesozoic rocks of Banda fore-arc and
the Mesozoic rocks from the Australian Conti-
nent. The para-authochthonous deep marine
sequences of Australian continent have been
thrusted onto the Metamorphic complex
(Cretaceous Mutis Complex) and a shallow
marine environment. The Mesozoic rocks in
Irian Jaya and Misool Island (Fig. 1.5) consist
of elastic and carbonate sediments, granite, ul-
tramafic and metamorphic rocks. The elastic
and carbonate deposits are commenced by the
terrestrial environment. The formation rests
partly conformably and disconformably on a
fluvio-deltaic of Paleozoic sedimentary se-
quence. In contrast, the Mesozoic rocks in Mi-
sool Island is commenced by turbidite type de-
posits. This sequence overlies unconformably
on the Paleozoic Liga Metamorphic rocks. In
Irian Jaya, the Triassic time was established to
correspond to culmination of block faulting
and uplift just prior to the onset of sea floor
spreading. It marked the peak of a regressive
cycle. The Triassic Tipuma Formation is con-
formably succeeded by the Jurassic-Cretaceous
Kambelangan Group deposited in a shallow
marine environment. A small exposure of late
Cretaceous turbidite type deposits is found in
the Sumba Island (Praikajelu Formation). Al-
though the underlain unit is unknown, the
overlying Praikejelu Formation is equivalent
with the rocks exposed in south Sulawesi.
1.4.4. CAINOZOIC
The Cainozoic or the Tertiary sedimentary
strata in Indonesia (Fig. 1.6) mainly rest un-
conformably on a pre-Tertiary crystalline base-
ment. Tertiary sedimentary sections vary in
thickness not only between basins but often
within the basins. A maximum accumulation of
6000 m is found in northern Sumatra whereas
the coeval Central and South Sumatra basins
contain 3500 and 4000 m respectively. Further
east, in the Sunda basin the maximum known
thickness of the Tertiary sedimentary section is
the order of 3400 m. In east Kalimantan, on the
other hand, wells 3500 m deep are still in Mio-
cene or possibly younger sediments. Exception
to the above are an anticlinals structure in the
8
Barito basin (Tanjung), where a basement high
was penetrated at 1200 m and an inland struc-
ture in the West Java basin in which an intru-
sive body was encountered at 1950 m. Gener-
ally, in West Java in general, few wells have
drilled below 2500 m, hence the pre-Tertiary
basement has not normally been penetrated.
However, on the onshore portion of this basin,
notably within certain basin "lows", an esti-
mated 5000 m of Tertiary sediments and inter-
bedded volcanics are thought to be present.
Further north, offshore, basement seems to rise
sharply and several wells have penetrated it at
depths of only 1500 m.
The Sunda Shelf areas stabilized toward the
end of Mesozoic time. The shelf edges appear
to have been broken up by basement block
faulting. Fault movements seem to have been
continuous from the beginning of basin subsi-
dence, and to have controlled sedimentation.
Less differential movement took place in late
Tertiary time, and although sedimentary strata
of this age are generally not dissected, folding
was apparently localized and influenced by the
fault trends. Uplifted fault blocks are character-
ized by clastic sedimentation, whereas carbon-
ate deposition tended to take place away from
basement highs. Less is known about the
northern parts of the Sunda shelf, although
faulting apparently influenced its sedimenta-
tion history also. Additional data is still needed
to evaluate the east Indonesian oil basins, but
faulting again remains the most convincing
mechanism of basin formation. In the western
Indonesian back-arc basins, rapid sedimenta-
tion occurred during the Tertiary in what may
best be described as partially closed marine en-
vironments (Fig. 1.6). These sediments were
then subjected to the moderate to intense fold-
ing which followed at the end of the Tertiary.
Most of Indonesia's oil fields are in these back-
arc basins and similar basin evolution and sedi-
mentation cycles may be inferred for arch ba-
sin (Koesoemadinata, 1969), although basin
development and timing of tectonic events may
have varied. Tertiary sediments were deposited
initially on eroded surfaces cut into late Creta-
ceous strata. Faulting, resulting from exten-
sional tectonics characterizing early Tertiary
time, was contemporaneous with erosion and
deposition and controlled sedimentation
throughout most of Tertiary time. This is most
noticeable in the Central Sumatra, South Su-
matra and Java sea basins. Similarities in the
stratigraphic sections are observed within the
Indonesian back-arc basins. A transgressive

Fig. 1.6. Tertiary basins of Indonesia, based on a variety of publications.
facies lies at or near the base, but is preceded
in some basins by volcanic activity or terres-
trial sedimentation. In time, littoral to neritic
deposition gave way to bathyal shale deposi-
tion. Sedimentation in the back-arc basins ap-
pears to have been continuous until near the
end of Tertiary time when a major regression
set in, ultimately filling the basins mainly with
clastic sediments. This regressive phase may
have been induced by compressive tectonics
which, subsequent to early Tertiary extensional
tectonics, began to influence these back-arc
basinal areas around intra-Miocene time. The
East Java basin is characterized by a high car-
bonate content and is a notable exception.
From more recent data, an increasing number
of cycles become apparent as one moves east-
ward toward east Java and Madura (Samuel,
1983). In the eastern Indonesia sedimentary ba-
3. NATUNA
sins, the basement can be as old as Permian but
is usually deemed to include anything pre-
Pliocene. These oil-prospective basins, in con-
trast to those of western Indonesia, are re-
markably young having sedimentation histories
beginning as recently as late Miocene and ex-
tending into the Pleistocene (Fig. 1.6). The
Plio-Pleistocene section is of special interest in
Timor and Seram where it unconformably
overlies deformed basement rocks. The mark-
edly structural character of these basins, and
their thick, young sedimentary sequences un-
derscores the magnitude of structural deforma-
tion and the resulting high sedimentation rates
in this tectonic setting.
9
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