Bulletin of the Geological Society of Malaysia 56 (2010) 35 – 40

Growing evidence of active deformation in the Malay basin region

H.D. Tjia
Orogenic Resources Sdn. Bhd., 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor
Institute for Environment & Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor
Email address: hdtamsp@streamyx.com

Abstract — Very young crustal movements in the Malay basin region point to the possibility of reactivation of regional
faults in the basin proper that may compromise their sealing integrity. In addition, active or reactivated faults that are
rooted in the pre-Tertiary basement and reach up close to the base of Quaternary seabed sediments in the basin pose
obvious hazards to offshore installations, such as production platforms and pipelines. The Malay basin originated in the
Late Cretaceous as a major aulacogen on the Malay Dome and developed structurally through modifications by differential
extrusion of Indosinian crustal slabs. Initially the extrusion imparted sinistral transtensional wrenching on the axial basement
fault along the basin length. In post Mid-Miocene, wrench slip reversal produced transpression, accompanied by general
structural inversion. From the Pliocene onward most of the basin area has been considered tectonically quiet on the
basis of horizontal stratification, absence of explosive volcanism, absence of earthquake epicentres, and low topographic/
bathymetric relief. However, basement-rooted regional fault zones may intrude into Pliocene-Pleistocene strata and reach
as high as 150 metres below the shallow seabed. This suggests reactivation of the faults. Onshore Peninsular Malaysia,
small Early Tertiary basins host lacustrine and fluvial-dominated deposits. These basins appear associated with regional
fault zones that most probably remained active up to that time. Neogene deposits are apparently missing while the blanket
of Quaternary sediments only indicates local disturbances associated with superficial base collapse and gravity sliding. On
the other hand, an Early Quaternary pillow-basalt flow near Kuantan on the eastern shore of the Peninsula is traversed by
long fractures orientated parallel to faults in the pre-Tertiary basement. The fractures in the basalt are essentially vertical
and are evident manifestations of reactivation of the older faults. In Southeast Johor at the edge of the Penyu basin, crustal
uplift of 0.5 - 0.8 m during the past 5000 years is suggested by an abrasion platform that is that much higher compared
to the eustatic Holocene sea-level curve of the Peninsula which was established from almost a hundred radiometrically
determined bio-shoreline indicators. In the northwest on the shores of Langkawi, a 2500-year old abrasion platform is
cut by a long fault zone whose associated secondary structures suggest sinistral displacement. The 26 December 2004
mega-thrust Indian Ocean earthquake is shown by GPS measurements to have displaced the entire Peninsula by several
centimetres toward west-southwest. One of the findings of ongoing research in the Langkawi islands is of very recent
crustal uplift of 40-50 centimetres that manifests as sea-level notches at elevated positions above present mean sea level.

Keywords: Malay basin, active deformation, fault reactivation

INTRODUCTION having occurred. Earthquake epicentres are absent. The

epicentre of a single magnitude 8.6 event of 16 December
From onshore the Peninsula, suspected Quaternary 1920 shown on some seismic maps and placed in the centre
crustal movements were interpreted among others by of northern Sundaland (06.500° N, 105.700° E) resulted from
Raj (1979) and Zaiton Harun et al., (2000). The present a typing error of the latitude coordinate. Magnitude and date
communication details evidence of very young crustal corresponds with an epicentre in China, 30 degrees farther
movements from the Pahang and Johor coasts adjoining the to the north (Irwan Meilano, Institut Teknologi Bandung
South China Sea, the Johor and Angsa Tertiary basins in the Indonesia, pers. comm.).
Melaka Strait, and the Langkawi Islands in the northwestern Exploration for hydrocarbons that in the 1970s
region of the Peninsula. culminated in production from the Malay basin and from
The Malay Basin region (Figure 1) is located in the West Natuna basin forces drastic modifications to the
Sundaland, that according to land-based geologists has been concept of stable crustal conditions for Sundaland. The
tectonically consolidated by the early Tertiary. Original Malay basin contains Early Neogene and older sedimentary
results indicating this have been compiled by van Bemmelen rocks that were deformed by Palaeogene synrift sagging,
(1949). Indications of similar conditions in Peninsular post Mid-Miocene structural inversion, and reversals on the
Malaysia have also been realised (e.g. Chung & Yin, regional wrench faults (documentation in Leong, 1999). Only
1968). During the Tertiary, volcanism was of the basaltic the AB seismic Group (Upper Miocene and younger) are
type (Gunung Niut and Pulau Midai in West Kalimantan; essentially horizontally bedded sediments representing stable
Segamat and Kuantan basalts in Peninsular Malaysia), but crustal conditions. Even this young sedimentary blanket of
no explosive volcanic activity that characterises tectonically the Malay basin is intruded by faults as illustrated in Figures
active regions is known. Bathymetric relief of the Sunda 7.18, 8.4 and 8.11 of the Petronas book (Mazlan Madon
Shelf is low, precluding significant young crustal movements et al., 1999; Tjia, 1999). Some of the faults reach up from
 H.D. Tjia

Figure 1: Semicratonic Indosinia and Sundaland of Southeast Asia. The Malay Basin is underlain by a segment of the Three Pagodas
fault zone. Only major tectonic elements are shown. Evidence and indications for active crustal deformation are described for the areas: A
Pantai Batu Hitam, B Tanjung Lobang, C Johor Graben, D Angsa Graben, E Langkawi Islands, and F Bunguran Besar or Natuna Island.

inside the pre-Oligocene sedimentary interval intruding EVIDENCE FOR ACTIVE DEFORMATION
into the AB Group as high as 150 milliseconds below the
floor of the South China Sea. Normal faulting appears to Pantai Batu Hitam, Pahang
have been active well into the Pliocene. The deep- seated Quaternary basaltic lava flows occur in the Jabor area
faults further suggest that “basement” of the basin is also north of Kuantan, Pahang, and reaches the shoreline of
involved in the young movements. Extrusion of crustal slabs the South China Sea (Fitch, 1951). At Pantai Batu Hitam,
of Indosinia as proposed by Tapponnier et al. (1982) has the 1.6 Ma (Bignell & Snelling, 1977) basalt crops out as
operated along major northwest faults (Red River, Wang pillows in the intertidal zone (Figure 2). This suggests that
Chao, Three Pagodas) until the present time and has most the palaeogeography has not substantially changed since
probably influenced the structural development of the Malay the early Quaternary. The other Tertiary volcanic activity in
basin (Tjia & Liew, 1996). Current activity of the Wang the Peninsula was at Segamat, Johor, 66 Ma ago (Stauffer,
Chao ,one of the regional faults, can be correlated with 1972). In the current geological setting, the Jabor basalt is
dextral wrench faulting as indicated by the focal mechanism a tectonically anomalous occurrence. Azman Ghani & Nur
of an Mw 5.3 earthquake just offshore the Mekong Delta Iskandar Taib (2007) interpreted from its petrochemistry,
(7 November 2005; USGS-NEIC). Epicentres located in especially its rare earths content, that it could represent a
Peninsular Malaysia have been of weak earthquakes. In mantle-plume origin. At Gebeng, at the north fringe of the
the early 1990s initial commissioning of the large Kenyir Jabor basalt, weathered basalt was found to overlie granite
reservoir in Terengganu was interpreted as the cause. whose quartz displays planar deformation features. An
Currently under investigation are a slew of less than M impact origin was suggested by Anizan Isahak (1990). She
3 earthquakes occurring since late November 2007 in the further proposed that the early Pleistocene basalt volcanism
Bukit Tinggi area of western Pahang (Jabatan Mineral dan was induced by meteorite impact.
Geosains Malaysia).

36 Geological Society of Malaysia, Bulletin 56, December 2010

 Growing evidence of active deformation in the Malay basin region

Figure 2: Early Quaternary pillow basalt exposed in the

intertidal zone at Pantai Batu Hitam, north of Kuantan,
Pahang. The fractures are systematically orientated.
Distinct fracture initiation within pillows and parallel Figure 4: Drainage lineaments displayed on the geological map of the Sungei
with the larger fractures are noticeable, such as in the Lembing map sheet (lineaments in red added to the base map by Fitch, 1951).
east centre of the photograph. Except for the north-striking lineaments, the other lineament directions also
occur in the pillow basalt of Pantai Batu Hitam.

10 metres. Fractures cutting across pillows are also seen.

Lateral displacement was not apparent and vertical offset
is not discernible, as the small relief produced by the basalt
flow could be due to different pillow sizes.
Drainage lineaments on Triassic-Jurassic (or Permian-
Triassic according to Bignell & Snelling, 1977) granite and
early Carboniferous sedimentary rocks of the Kuantan area
show discrete orientations that are duplicated by fractures
in the pillow lava (Figure 4). The single exception is that
north-south fractures are not represented in the young basalt.
It appears that the Quaternary lava experienced tectonic
stress that reactivated pre-Quaternary basement fractures
of many orientations.
Figure 3: Rose diagram of fractures in the pillow basalt of
Pantai Batu Hitam. Three major directions are northwest, Batu Lobang, Southeast Johor
east-southeast and southeast. Deformed upper Palaeozoic metasedimentary rocks
at Batu Lobang were abraded into rock terraces that are
The pillow basalt of Pantai Batu Hitam is systematically now at about 4.5 m and another one slightly over a metre
fractured. Joints parallel to the larger fractures are seen above low tide level (Figure 5). The abrasion terraces
within pillow units, continuing in neighbouring pillow represent former low-tide levels. Numerous bio-indicators
units. The major fracture orientations are 060°, 100-115°, of Holocene eustatic sea stands in Peninsular Malaysia have
and 150°; a less frequent fracture direction is 040° (Figure been interpreted to indicate a mid-Holocene palaeo-mean
3). All fractures are essentially vertical (Figure 2). If the sealevel between 4 and 5 metres higher than today (Tjia,
fracturing was produced by cooling of the lava, one would 1992). The elevation of the higher terrace corresponds
expect fracture orientations to be of either rectangular and/or with a sea stand at about 5000 years B.P. Assuming that
random patterns. This is not the case. The long and straight the palaeo-tidal range was similar with current condition,
fractures are easily traceable over distances in excess of the corresponding low-tide level would have been 1.5 to
Geological Society of Malaysia, Bulletin 56, December 2010 37
 H.D. Tjia

1.8 m below the bevelled rock surfaces .This higher terrace notches are interpreted as product of a former mean sea
should not have been higher than approximately 3.5 m over level, most probably in the recent past. The situation shown
present low-tide. A post-mid Holocene uplift of around a in the figure most probably resulted from crustal uplift.
metre appears to have occurred. Tanjung Dendang is a cliffed rocky island in the Kilim
Geoforest Part. In place palaeo-intertidal bio-indicators
Johor Graben at the South End of Strait Melaka (rock-attached fossil oyster shells and accumulation of
A basement-involved normal fault down throwing mollusc shells) at 23 metres above present sea level have a
northwest is shown on Figure 10.5, a geoseismic section of radiocarbon age of 7000 years (Zaiton Harun et al., 2000).
the Johor Graben (Mazlan Madon & Mansor Ahmad, 1999, Seven thousand years ago the sea of the Langkawi Islands
p. 243 in Leong, 1999). This fault intrudes into the lower was a few metres below or above present level (Tjia, 1992).
part of the Pleistocene-Recent Minas Formation. In the The Tanjung Dendang intertidal zone with the fossils is at
geoseismic section, many of the other faults are shown to least 20 metres out of phase. Zaiton Harun (pers. com.)
end at the base of the Minas, which represents the Pliocene- suggested that the geoid of that time was that much higher.
Pleistocene angular unconformity. The fault transgressing
the unconformity and intruding into the Minas sediments The Mega-thrust Indian Ocean Earthquake of
indicates Quaternary activity. 2004
Research institutions of the European Union and
Angsa Graben, Northwest off Port Kelang relevant agencies of many Southeast Asian nations initially
On Figure 10.5 is also a geoseismic section of the established 42 GPS base stations throughout the region.
Angsa Graben which shows similar structural conditions Results of two measuring campaigns in 1992 and 1994
to that of the Johor Graben (Mazlan Madon & Mansor show that Sundaland moved as a single block in easterly
Ahmad, 1999). Quaternary crustal movement is indicated direction in the ITRF92 framework. Subsequently many
by a basement-involved normal fault down-throwing to more base stations were set up. The effect of the mega-
the southeast. The fault crosses the base-Minas that is an thrust earthquake of 26 December 2004 could thus be
angular unconformity and intrudes the Minas sediments to determined good accuracy. With respect to the pre-quake
a level slightly below 200ms. baseline, Sundaland was found to have been displaced in
west-southwest direction (Figure 8). Lateral displacements
Langkawi Islands were less than 2 cm at the Indosinian base stations and
Pulau Ular is an uninhabited rocky islet off the main incrementally increased that amounted to 6-7 cm on the
Langkawi island in the northwestern part of the Peninsula.
The islet is oriented northwest and consists of three low hills
connected by a well developed abrasion platform about a
metre above present mean sea level (Figure 6). The entire
islet is composed of a member of the upper Palaeozoic
Singa Formation, consisting of meta-siltstone with metres-
wide slump intervals. The platform represents a palaeo-low
tide level which can be interpreted to correspond with the
eustatic sea stand approximately 2500 years ago. Eustatic
sea levels for the later part of the Holocene of Sundaland
have been determined using scores of various bio-indicators
and compiled in Tjia (1992). A relatively straight fault
zone of less than 0.7 m wide runs across this platform
and is indicated as “Main fault” in an inset of Figure 5.
Differential vertical displacement of the abrasion platform
by the fault ranges from 10 cm to 30 cm (another inset in
the figure). Straight fracture splays at oblique angles of 40
degrees branch out from the main fault (illustrated in the
plan and are visible on the right part of the photograph).
The combined deformation pattern suggests the main fault
as a sinistral wrench moving actively in post-2500 y time.
The Kilim limestone area that covers the northeast
part of main Langkawi Island, and since 2007 declared a
UNESCO-approved Geoforest Park, has notches and arcades
at levels corresponding with the three Holocene eustatic
sea stands. In places the base of limestone cliffs (Setul
Formation) have shallow notches, approximately half a metre
Figure 5: Tanjung Lobang abrasion terraces at 4.5 and about 1 m
above current mean sea level (Figure 7). These shallow
above current low tide level (shown on this photograph).
38 Geological Society of Malaysia, Bulletin 56, December 2010
 Growing evidence of active deformation in the Malay basin region

Figure 6: The main abrasion platform of Pulau Ular, Langkawi islands, corresponds with the eustatic sealevel of around 2500 year BP.
The main fault deforms this platform and its associated structures are interpreted to indicate sinistral wrenching on the main fault.

east coast to 10-12 cm on the west coast stations of the

peninsula, while the maximum was measured at 27 cm near
Medan, Sumatera. That particular earthquake originated as
a subduction on the Sunda Trench and was of magnitude
Mw 9.0, an exceptionally great and rare event. Periodic
recurrence of similar large events in the trench to the west
of Sumatera had a range of roughly 60 to 170 years (USGS-
NEIC records of “significant earthquakes”). It cannot be ruled
out that ground movements in Sundaland may have been
induced by the relatively small lateral displacements by this
single event. Major pipe lines in the South China Sea run
east-west, or subparallel to the earthquake displacement. On
a geological time scale the incremental amounts of lateral Figure 7: Shallow palaeo-mean sea level notches at the base of
displacement by great earthquakes should be expected to limestone cliffs in the Kilim Geoforest Park, Langkawi Island. The
result in ground deformation, including reactivation of faults. photograph shows present mean-sea level condition, and the notches
are approximately 0.5 metre higher. This situation is interpreted to
indicate actual crustal uplift, possibly only in recent years.
CONCLUSION

Based on the known geological development of changed that resulted in wrench-slip reversals and structural
Peninsular Malaysia and onshore stratigraphy, it can be inversion. The overall deformation mode was compressional.
maintained that it was tectonically stabilised by Early This condition petered out towards the end of the Neogene
Tertiary. The association of small Tertiary basins with and was replaced with relative stability of Sundaland. This
regional faults indicate transtensional wrench conditions is indicated by the widespread occurrence of late Pliocene-
to have been periodically active. The presence of many Quaternary sediments in horizontal position, the absence of
kilometres-thick Oligocene and younger sediments in the earthquake epicentres and occurrence of only non-explosive
Malay, West Natuna and Penyu basins is evident for belt- volcanism. In other words, tectonic stability for the whole
wide crustal movements. These sediments were deposited of Sundaland was only achieved at this late stage. However,
during initial synrift that in the Malay Basin was coupled the examples discussed in this article strongly suggest that
with large-scale wrenching along its Axial Malay Fault Zone. (possibly) occasionally crustal movements are still being
In the Mid-Miocene the plate dynamics of Southeast Asia experienced in parts of Sundaland.
Geological Society of Malaysia, Bulletin 56, December 2010 39
 H.D. Tjia

Figure 8: Accurate GPS (global

positioning system) measurements
that compare post-December
2004 with pre-quake conditions
at the various base stations
whose locations are at the base
of the arrows. These are vectors
of secular displacement; the
numbers at the arrows are values
in centimetres. The base map is
by C. Vigny available via internet
in 2005.

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Manuscript received 16 May 2008

Revised manuscript received 12 April 2010

40 Geological Society of Malaysia, Bulletin 56, December 2010