Review of Tectonic Evolution of Sabah, Malaysia
Sabah’s geological structure and tectonic history show that this region had undergone several tectonic events, of which the most important were the South China Sea floor spreading and the Sulu Sea subduction. The South China Sea subducted beneath the nort
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Abstract Sabah’s geological structure and tectonic history show that this region had undergone several tectonic events, of which the most important were the South China Sea floor spreading and the Sulu Sea subduction. The South China Sea subducted beneath the northern Borneo margin forming a basin that was filled with Middle Eocene–Early Miocene sediments. The Celebes Sea subduction occurred during Late Oligocene, this sea subducting northward beneath the Dent Peninsula. These subductions led to shallower sedimentation in north, east, and west of Sabah. During the Upper Oligocene–Middle Miocene, active rifting of the South China Sea Basin took place. The N–S compression formed in the west led to general shallowing of sedimentary facies and formed the NW–SE fold and thrust belt in the northern and eastern part of Sabah. During the Early–Middle Miocene, the circular basins in the eastern part of Sabah formed and it is thought to be related to SE Sulu Sea Basin rifting. The volcanic arc in Dent Peninsula also formed during this time which was due to the southward subduction of the Sulu Sea. In Late Miocene, the SE Sulu Sea Basin rifting ceased. Keywords Sabah
Tectonic evolution
1 Introduction Sabah is located in the northern part of Borneo which is tectonically very active. Since Tertiary, this region had undergone considerable tectonic stress, but the main tectonic activity occurs during the Middle Miocene. Sabah is located between three different seas which greatly influenced the tectonic evolution of the region. It is bordered on the west and north by the South China Sea which currently is covered
S. Ghaheri (&) M.S. Bin Ismail Department of Geosciences, University Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 M. Awang et al. (eds.), ICIPEG 2016, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3650-7_52
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Fig. 1 Sabah is located between three different seas which greatly influenced the tectonic evolution of this region (modified from [6])
by carbonate platform known as Dangerous Ground [33]. From the east, it lies next to the Sulu Sea, and from the south, it lies adjacent to the Celebes Sea. Sabah is one of the important regions in Malaysia in terms of hydrocarbon exploration. A better understanding on the geology structures and tectonic evolution of the region can be a great assistance for further oil and gas field development. Sabah region was studied by many authors for the past few decades [1–3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 21–24, 26–30, 32]. This paper attempts to integrate all studies and come out with the overall pictures of the tectonic evolution of Sabah. This review will follow the formal works of previous authors, identifying the events according to the geology and tectonic (Fig. 1).
2 Sedimentology A brief account on the sedimentology of Sabah region is given here on tectonic evolution closely associated with basin sediment. Tongkul [33] divided Sabah rock formation based on their age and lithologies
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