Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

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Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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The origin of mlanges: Cautionary tales from Indonesia

A.J. Barber
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 8 January 2013
Keywords:
Mlange
Mud diapirs
Mud volcanoes
Timor
Sumba
Nias

a b s t r a c t
The origin of block-in-matrix mlanges has been the subject of intense speculation by structural and tectonic geologists working in accretionary complexes since their rst recognition in the early twentieth
century. Because of their enigmatic nature, a number of important international meetings and a large
number of publications have been devoted to the problem of the origin of mlanges. As mlanges show
the effects of the disruption of lithological units to form separate blocks, and also apparently show the
effects shearing in the scaly fabric of the matrix, a tectonic origin has often been preferred. Then it
was suggested that the disruption to form the blocks in mlanges could also occur in a sedimentary environment due to the collapse of submarine fault scarps to form olistostromes, upon which deformation
could be superimposed tectonically. Subsequently it has proposed that some mlanges have originated
by overpressured clays rising buoyantly towards the surface, incorporating blocks of the overlying rocks
in mud or shale diapirs and mud volcanoes.
Two well-known examples of mlanges from the Banda and Sunda arcs are described, to which tectonic
and sedimentary origins were condently ascribed, which proved on subsequent examination to have
been formed due to mud diapirism, in a dynamically active environment, as the result of tectonism only
indirectly. Evidence from the Australian continental Shelf to the south of Sumba shows that large quantities of diapiric mlange were generated before the diapirs were incorporated in the accretionary complex. Comparable diapirs can be recognised in Timor accreted at an earlier stage. Evidence from both
Timor and Nias shows that diapiric mlange can be generated well after the initial accretion process
was completed.
The problem is: Why, when diapirism is so abundantly found in present convergent margins, is it so
rarely reported from older orogenic belts? Many occurrences of mlanges throughout the world to which
tectonic and/or sedimentary and origins have been ascribed, may in future investigations prove to have
had a diapiric origin.
It is emphasised that although the examples of diapiric mlange described here may contain ophiolitic
blocks, they were developed in shelf or continental margin environments, and do not contain blocks of
high grade metamorphic rocks in a serpentinous matrix; such mlanges originate diapirically during subduction in a mantle environment, as previous authors have suggested.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
When Greenly (1919) described a chaotic unit in the Gwna
Group of Anglesey as mlange, containing a variety of blocks of
ocean oor and continental shelf materials, such as spilitic pillow
lava and tuff, red jasper chert, manganiferous limestone, shale,
quartzite and grey limestone in a ne-grained matrix, it seemed
obvious that this mlange had been disrupted and sheared during
a process of tectonic deformation. Later Beneo (1955) described
extensive deposits of mlange in Sicily in the western Mediterranean, which he interpreted as having been formed in a sedimentary environment as the product of large-scale submarine
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landslides. This interpretation has been used frequently to account

for the large-scale mlanges of the Argille Scagliose throughout
Italy. In the discussion following Beneos (1955) paper, Flores
introduced the terms olistostrome for these deposits, and olistoliths
for the included blocks. Although Hs (1968, 1974) recognised tectonic and olistostromal mlanges he suggested that the term
mlange should be restricted to those formed tectonically, in
practice, due to the difculty of determining their origins, the term
has been used to describe all block in matrix mlange deposits
worldwide, however they may have originated.
Subsequently both tectonic and sedimentary interpretations,
sometimes in combination, have been offered for many other
occurrences, especially where mlanges are found in association
with accretionary complexes, formed in subduction trenches from
oceanic material scraped off downgoing oceanic plates (e.g. Aalto,

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A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

formed from Australian Precambrian basement and continental

margin sediments, ranging in age from the Permian to the Pliocene,
imbricated in accretionary complexes and thrust beneath an ophiolite nappe, during the collision between the northern continental
margin of Australia and the Banda Volcanic Arc (Barber et al., 1977;
Charlton et al., 1991). The eastern part of Timor (Timor Leste) was
mapped geologically by Audley-Charles (1968), and the stratigraphic units he established were later adopted by the Indonesian
Geological Survey when they mapped the western part of the island (Rosidi et al., 1981) (Fig. 2). During the mapping AudleyCharles (1965, 1968) recognised an extensive mlange deposit,
the Bobonaro Scaly Clay, containing a variety of blocks in a scaly
clay matrix (Fig. 3) which, following Beneo (1955), he interpreted
as olistostromes, the product of large-scale submarine slumping.
This interpretation was accepted by Hutchison (2007) in his account of the geology of Timor in the textbook Geological Evolution
of South-east Asia (p. 58).
Audley-Charles (1968) and Carter et al. (1976) regarded the
Bobonaro Scaly Clay as a distinct stratigraphic unit, formed at a
specic period of time, Early Pliocene, N19-20 in Blows (1969)
foraminiferal zonal scheme, although Pleistocene forams were
identied in the scaly clay matrix, these were interpreted as being
incorporated by soil creep from overlying raised coral reefs. They
visualised that slumping had occurred by the collapse of submarine fault scarps developed in the accretionary complex, with the
deposition of the blocks into adjacent troughs, where deep-water
clays, which now form the scaly clay matrix, were being deposited.
These escarpments were formed as the result of thrusting during
the subduction/collision between the northern margin of the Australian continent and the Banda Arcs.
Later, Hamilton (1979) visited West Timor and described and
illustrated the Bobonaro Scaly Clay Mlange. In the outcrops that
he visited, Hamilton observed that the fabric of the scaly clay matrix had a predominantly northerly dip and suggested that the
mlange had been generated tectonically by southerly-directed

1981; Cowan, 1985; Collins and Robertson, 1997; Ogawa, 1998;

Robertson and Pickett, 2000; Robertson and Ustamer, 2011).
Meanwhile, geologists using seismic reection proling and drilling for oil in deltaic deposits, frequently encountered salt diapirs
and shale diapirs containing block-in-matrix deposits in deltas on
passive margins, attributed to the mobilisation of salt and shale
units due to overpressure generated in areas with very high sedimentation rates, e.g. Nile Delta (Loncke et al., 2006), Niger Delta
(Morley and Guerin, 1996) Baram Delta (Morley et al., 1998; Morley, 2003). Shale diapirs are also encountered on active continental
margins, where the overpressuring and mobilisation of shales is
attributed to the stacking of thrust slices, e.g. Barbados (Brown
and Westbrook, 1988; Stride et al., 1982; Westbrook and Smith,
1983), the Makran (Stcklin, 1990; Grando and McClay, 2007), Arakan, Burma (Maurin and Rangin, 2009). Much effort has been expended in dening criteria by which tectonic, olistostromal and
diapiric mlanges might be distinguished (e.g. Barber et al., 1986;
Camerlenghi and Pini, 2009; Codegone et al., 2012b; Cowan, 1985;
Dilek et al., 2012; Festa et al., 2010; Festa, 2011; Lash, 1987; Orange, 1985; Pini, 1999; Raymond, 1984; Silver and Beutner,
1980; Sengr, 2003; Wakabayashi, 2011).
Experience gained during study of mlanges regions of present
day active tectonics in the Outer Banda Arc and the Outer Sunda
Arc in Indonesia, to which both tectonic and olistostromal origins
have been attributed, but for which substantive evidence of diapirism has been subsequently obtained, suggests that diapiric
mlange is much more common than many structural and tectonic
geologists have appreciated: Diapirism should be considered as an
origin for mlanges, before tectonism or submarine slumping are
automatically assumed.
2. Mlange in the Outer Banda Arc
The island of Timor in eastern Indonesia, just to north of Australia, forms part of the Outer Banda Arc (Fig. 1). The island was

120

118E

124

122

128

126

Banda

132

130

Accretionary and Collisional Complex

134

Kai

BANDA SEA

Active mud volcano fields

6S

Aru
n
Volca

FLORES SEA

rc
ic A
Tanimbar

Volcanic Arc

Sumba
10

Timor

ba
ck

st
thru

Savu

ef
Semau d

or m

ALI

AN

10

N
CO

T IN

AL
E NT

L
SHE

12

Darwin

AUSTRALIAN
MARGINAL
SEDIMENTS
5000m

AUSTRALIA

14

10

00

14

1000m

ont
n fr
atio

TR
AUS

12

INDIAN
OCEAN
FLOOR

118

120

122

124

126

128

130

132

134

Fig. 1. The Banda Arcs Eastern Indonesia, with the island of Timor formed by the collision between the northern margin of Australia and the volcanic arc showing the
distribution of active mud diapirs and mud volcanoes around the Outer Arc (Barber and Brown, 1988).

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A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

5S

10

20

30

40

50km

127

126

125

124E

Dili

WEST TIMOR

EAST TIMOR

Kolbano

10

Kupang
124E

125

Bobonaro Scaly Clay

Melange &
mud volcanoes

Post-collision Units

Late MioceneRecent

Pre-Collision Units

PermianLate Miocene

126

10

127

Fig. 2. Geological map of Timor, Eastern Indonesia, showing the extent of the Bobonaro Scaly Clay Mlange: East Timor (Timor Leste) from Audley-Charles (1968); West
Timor from Rosidi et al. (1981).

Fig. 3. Landscape in West Timor with scattered blocks of a variety of lithologies,

some the size of houses, due to the erosion of the clay matrix from an outcrop of
Bobonaro Scaly Clay Mlange.

overthrusting, during the collision between the northern Australian margin and the Banda Arc.
Subsequently, in a geophysical cruise in Eastern Indonesia by
the Hawaiian Institute of Geophysics, the Research Vessel Kana
Keoki surveyed the Timor accretionary complex and the Australian
Continental Shelf to the south of Timor. The survey mapped the
bathymetry, recorded seismic proles and used the side-scan sonar
SeaMarc II system (Blackington et al., 1983) to image the Timor
slope, the Timor Trough and the northern part of the Australian
shelf. The seismic section showed that sediments from the Timor
Trough and the Australian margin had been uplifted into the accretionary complex along bedding parallel thrust planes which steepen toward the surface and generate fault-bend folds in the
overlying sediments (Karig et al., 1987) (Fig. 4). Earlier, Upper Pliocene to Recent sediments had been drilled in DSPD 262 on the
oor of the Timor Trough and showed that sediments on the oor
of the trough, to a depth of 400+ m, consist of unlithied radiolarian and clay-rich nanno ooze (Heirtzler et al., 1973). The SeaMARC
II side-scan imagery showed fault scarps, both on the Australian

margin and on the Timor slope, together with slumps, dbris and
mud ows and sediment-lled slope basins (Fig. 5), as postulated
by Audley-Charles (1965), but the seismic section shows that the
surface of the Australian slope and the accretionary complex is
composed only of recently deposited soft sediments of Pliocene
to Recent age, with no major fault scarps uplifting the underlying
continental shelf sequence from which blocks of lithied sediments could be derived, to form olistostromes, as postulated by
Audley-Charles (1965, 1968) to account for the Bobonaro Scaly
Clay Mlange on Timor.
A similar survey was conducted by the R.V. Kana Keoki further
west, to the south of the island of Sumba, across the accretionary
complex, the trench and the Australian margin (Breen et al.,
1986). SeaMARC II side-scan sonar imagery, together with bathymetry and seismic reection proling, showed that the surface of the
sea oor on the Australian continental shelf, immediately to the
south of the deformation front of the accretionary complex, is covered by mounds and ridges (Fig. 6). Neither the side-scan sonar
imagery nor the seismic proles show any large-scale fault scarps
in the accretionary complex; the upper slopes of the complex are
covered by a thin drape of undisturbed Recent sediments, and
are devoid of structural features (Breen et al., 1986, Fig. 7). Seismic
sections obtained south of the deformation front show that at
intervals of 10 km or so, the regular horizontal reections in the
bedded sedimentary sequence are disrupted by transparent zones,
devoid of reections, capped by the mounds on the sea oor. These
transparent zones are interpreted as vertical mud diapirs and the
mounds are interpreted as mud volcanoes (Fig. 6).
Breen et al. (1986) correlated the sequence represented in the
proles with the undisturbed Australian continental marginal sequence encountered in boreholes on the Scott Reef (Rad and Exon,
1982). The deepest reection (E) is identied as the top of the clastic sequence, which marks the break-up unconformity in the passive margin of the NW Australian Shelf. A transparent zone
between (E) and (C) is identied as Lower Cretaceous hemipelagic
marine shale deposited on the subsided ocean oor. Overlying
reectors between (E) and (A) are identied as lithied Upper Cretaceous to Miocene pelagic carbonates, with interbedded marls,
deposited on a prograding carbonate shelf, and the zone from (A)
to the surface, as Pliocene to Recent pelagic marls. The vertical

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A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

AUSTRALIA

Timor TroughTimor slope

NW

Australian slope
SE

Permian Upper Jurassic

slope sediments

deformation front
trough fill

3.0

3.0

passive margin
sediments

4.0

seconds two-way time

Upper Jurassic
- Miocene

2.0

2.0

seconds two-way time

Pliocene-Recent

TIMOR

4.0

break-up unc
onformity

5.0

5.0

syn-rift sediments

6.0

6.0

10

20km

Fig. 4. Interpreted seismic section from the Australian continental shelf across the Timor Trough and the Timor accretionary complex showing that only the most recent
sediments are exposed; the shelf sequence is not exposed and cannot provide blocks to form olistostromes (Karig et al., 1987).

12400

12345E

12415

1000m

SL

PE

back thrust

1700
1700

normal
faults

1030

deformation
front (inactive)

TI

1030S

slope basins

2300

sediment
lobes

slump scars

2300
2000
600
1000
1500
1600

1045

1800

1045
1800

anticlines

normal
faults

2000

deformation front
(inactive)
floor of
Timor Trough

2300

PE

2300

10

1100

12345

IA

1600

L
RA

20km
2000

12400

turbidite
channels

O
SL

ST

AU

1100

Fig. 5. Interpretation of SeaMARC II imagery of the accretionary complex south of Timor shows slumping of soft sediment from the most recent deposits from the Timor
Trough, with no olistostromes containing blocks derived from the underlying continental margin sequence (reinterpreted after Charlton (1987) and personal communication
2012). N.B. The subduction system in the Timor Trough is no longer active. GPS measurements show that Timor Island is accreted to the Australian Plate and is moving NEwards at 7.7 cm/yr together with Australia (Genrich et al., 1996).

transparent zones seen in the seismic sections rise from the level of
the Lower Cretaceous shale at a depth of 1.5 km, and cut across the
bedded reectors to the base of the surface mounds (Fig. 6). In
passing through the overlying bedded sequence the mobilised clay
is likely to have incorporated blocks of the lithied carbonate units
to form a mlange of Upper Cretaceous to Miocene limestone
blocks in a hemipelagic clay matrix. Scattered occasional reections in the transparent zones may from larger blocks. The largest
of the ridges on the sea oor is 200300 m high, 18 km long with a
width of 2.5 km and extends to a depth of 1.5 km, representing a
volume of 70 km3 of mlange.

A subsequent survey by the R.V. Charles Darwin using the GLORIA side-scan sonar system showed that the diapir eld extends
over an area of 100 km  50 km on the Australian continental shelf
(Masson et al., 1991). The seismic sections show that continental
margin sediments incorporating the diapirs and the mud volcanoes, including many hundred cubic kilometres of mlange, are
in the process of incorporation into the toe of the accretionary
complex (Fig. 6).
Westbrook and Smith (1983), in a comparable situation in
Barbados, where mud diapirs and mud volcanoes occur in Orinoco
Fan sediments on the oceanward side of the deformation front,

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A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

ACCRETION OF DIAPIR COMPLEX SOUTH OF SUMBA

(after Breen et al. 1986)
N
S
sec/twt
Accretionary
Complex

Australian Margin sediments

Df
Miocene-Recent
pelagic carbonates

Df1

A
Late-Cretaceous-Miocene
lithified pelagic carbonates
& marls
C
Early Cretaceous
hemipelagic clays E
Jurassic deltaic
sandstones

5km

vertical exaggeration = 6.2

E = BREAK_UP UNCONFORMITY

Line drawing from S-N shipboard seismic reflection profile across the Java Trench south of Sumba
from HIG R.V. Kana Keoki. The profile shows mud volcanoes on the sea-floor and mud-diapirs
rising from C-E through reflectors in consolidated Australian marginal sediments.
The deformation front (Df1) at the toe of the accretionary complex has been replaced recently by Df2
incorporating the sediments and the diapirs into the complex.

Fig. 6. Line drawing from a seismic section across the mud volcano and diapir eld in Australian continental margin sediments to the south of Sumba (after Breen et al.
(1986)) Transparent zones not capped by mud volcanoes evidently mark diapirs which have not yet reached the surface. Scattered reections within these zones may be from
larger blocks. The sediments, together with the diapirs are being accreted as the deformation front of the accretionary complex moves southwards.

120E
10S

121

120

SUMBA

10

SAVU

ey

IA
LOR

Surv

ROTI

fG

to
Limi

11

11

Fig. 6

Accretionary Complex

Back thrust
12

Deformation
front
Mud diapirs

Diapir Field

SeaMARC II
Survey

50

100km
12

120

121

122

Fig. 7. Areas covered by the SeaMARC II and GLORIA side scan sonar surveys showing the 50  100 km extent of the diapir eld (Breen et al., 1986; Masson et al., 1991). The
line of section in Fig. 6 is shown within the SeaMARC II coverage.

suggested that stacking of thrust slices in the accretionary complex

generated overpressure in uids (water, oil and gas) in the underlying sediments. The overpressured uids were projected along
permeable horizons in the incoming sedimentary sequence to
mobilise overlying impermeable clays, which rose buoyantly
through the sequence to form clay diapirs and mud volcanoes on
the surface. This model is applicable to the Australian continental
margin sediments south of Sumba, where Jurassic sands at the

break-up unconformity form a permeable horizon within the sequence, while the overlying Lower Cretaceous hemipelagic clays
form the impervious seal which was mobilised by overpressured
uids to form the diapirs and mud volcanoes (Fig. 6). This combination of circumstances are likely to occur whenever a passive continental margin enters a subduction system. Interestingly, the
Lower Cretaceous hemipelagic clays had remained in a stable condition in the continental shelf sequence for 100 million years

A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

before they were activated by the overpressure generated by the

accretion process.
During mapping in West Timor the Geological Survey of Indonesia identied twenty-one mud volcano elds and cross-cutting
mud diapirs, intruded through the other rocks, as the Bobonaro
Scaly Clay Mlange (Rosidi et al., 1981) (Fig. 2). In the Kolbano area,
and in other areas in the southern part of the island, imbricated
and folded Late Cretaceous to Miocene carbonates, form a Late Tertiary accretionary complex and are cut by mud diapirs composed of
red scaly clay containing manganese nodules and blocks of Late
Cretaceous to Miocene limestones, forming a mlange (Barber
et al., 1986, Fig. 2). Hydrofracturing of the blocks, with lms of
the matrix injected along joints and fractures indicate that the
mud matrix in the diapirs was overpressured (Barber et al., 1986;
Barber and Brown, 1988). Yassir (1987) has demonstrated experimentally that the fabric in scaly clay matrix in mlanges develops
in overpressured clays, without the addition of superimposed
shearing.
The Cretaceous to Miocene limestones and the accompanying
mlange in Kolbano and other areas in the southern part of Timor,
correspond to the Australian marginal sediments and diapirs south
of Sumba, which were incorporated at an earlier stage in the island
arc-continental collision, along a dcollement at a level near the
break-up unconformity. There are no active mud volcanoes in this
part of Timor, evidently the diapiric system is now inactive. The
collision commenced in the region of East Timor, and has since extended to both east and west.
In the island of Semau (Barber et al., 1986) (Fig. 8) and in other
areas in the northern part of Timor (Fig. 2), active mud volcano extrude uid mud and bubbles of methane and have an oily scum on
the surface of mud pools. Mud in the volcanoes and scaly clay in
the diapirs were derived from Permo-Triassic red shale horizons
and carry blocks of Permo-Triassic sandstone and limestone (Figs. 9
and 10). Evidently, the Permo-Triassic rocks were uplifted into the
accretionary complex from a dcollement surface near the basement unconformity with the Australian basement in a process of
underplating (Charlton et al., 1991). Hutchison (2007, p. 320), following Audley-Charles (1968), noted that ultramac rocks are
also included in the mlange, showing that some of the diapirs
had intruded the overlying ophiolite nappe. Other diapirs and
mud volcanoes contain blocks of reef material and were intruded

433

Fig. 9. Cross-section of a mud diapir containing lensiod and irregular blocks of

limestone and sandstone in a scaly clay matrix in roadside quarry, near Takari, West
Timor. The matrix is intruded along fractures in the blocks, indicating high
overpressures, and the foliar structure of the scaly clay matrix is attributed to ow
rather that to shearing.

Fig. 10. Bedded block of Permian sandstone in varicoloured scaly clay matrix
derived from Permo-Triassic red marls in a mud diapir, exposed by river erosion in
the Noil Toko, near Nenas, West Timor. Patrick Bird provides scale. The location is
shown in Fig. 4 of Barber et al. (1986). (For interpretation of the references to colour
in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 8. The mud volcano eld showing small-scale mud volcanoes up to 3 m high,
with uid mud ows and scattered blocks, in the crater of the 1 km diameter large
mud volcano forming Palau Kambing, SW of Kupang, West Timor. The crater wall in
the background is littered with blocks. The soft clays are eroded during the rainy
season and washed out through a gap in the crater wall (see Barber et al., 1986,
Fig. 3).

through Pleistocene coral reefs (Barber et al., 1986). The evidence

from the incorporation of the coral blocks and active mud volcanism, indicates that compression, overthrusting and the generation
of uid overpressures continues within the collision complex in the
northern part of Timor to the present day.
Diapirs and active mud volcanoes occur extensively on all the
Banda Outer Arc islands between Timor and Seram (Fig. 1). The
process of the formation of mlanges must be occurring on a very
large scale today as the result of the collision between Australia
and the Banda Arcs.

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A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

From their study of the seismic sections, Moore and Karig

(1976) and Karig et al. (1979) developed a model for the evolution
of the accretionary complex, the development of the forearc ridge
and the geology and structure of Nias. They speculated that the
Oyo Mlange was developed as a trench-ll deposit composed of
fragments of ocean crust and turbidites which slumped down the
face of the accretionary complex as debris ows (olistostromes)
and were subsequently accreted at the toe of the complex (Moore
and Karig, 1980). Further debris ows were derived from fault
scarps developed on the NE side of slope basins formed on top of
the accretionary complex. The resolution of the 1970s seismic
reection imaging was not sufciently clear to either conrm or
contradict these interpretations (Fig. 11). Neither debris ows
nor diapirs are seen in the seismic proles across the Sunda Trench
(Fig. 11A and B). It may require swath mapping or 3D seismic surveys across the trench and the accretionary complex to identify
such ows (e.g. Gee et al., 2007). Karig et al. (1979) further speculated that the chaotic and sheared appearance of the mlange was
due to the dynamic tectonic environment within the developing
accretionary complex, in which original thrust surfaces were continually reactivated, with the development of new thrust planes,
disrupting the accreted oceanic material and breaking it into
blocks. They were unable to determine the age of the mlange directly, but inferred that the age was indicated by the youngest
dateable included blocks, the Eocene limestones.
Although no depositional contacts were observed, Moore et al.
(1980a) and Moore and Karig (1980) suggested that the Oyo
Mlange was the oldest unit on Nias, on which the Nias Beds were
deposited unconformably. They suggested that the Nias Beds had

3. Mlange in the Outer Sunda Arc

Outcrops of mlange were mapped in the outer arc islands of
Nias, Simeulue, Siberut, Sipora and Pagai, associated with subduction of the Indian Ocean oor beneath Sumatra. (Andi Mangga and
Burhan, 1994; Budhitrisna and Andi Mangga, 1990; Endharto and
Sukido, 1994). The mlange contains blocks of serpentinite, gabbro,
basalt, chert, calcilutite, Eocene limestone with foraminifera, granitic and metamorphic rocks together with abundant greywacke
shale and claystone in a scaly clay matrix.
In the 1970s the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) obtained seismic sections from the Indian Ocean oor, the Sunda
Trench and the Outer Arc Ridge to the SW of Sumatra (Moore
and Curray, 1980) (Fig. 11A). Karig et al. (1980) made a detailed
study of the trench and the accretionary complex from the SIO
seismic proles, and then completed a series of traverses across
the Outer Arc Ridge where it is exposed on the island of Nias
(Moore et al., 1980b; Moore and Karig, 1980). On Nias the mlange
deposits, termed the Oyo Complex, occur as a series of NWSE
trending linear belts parallel to the length of the island, several
hundred metres wide and kilometres in length, alternating with
bedded turbidites of Early Miocene to Early Pliocene age, termed
the Nias Beds (Fig. 12).
In the early 1990s Nias Island was mapped in detail by Samuel
(1994; Samuel et al., 1997) (Fig. 12) with the ages of the rocks very
tightly controlled by detailed microfossil analysis, supported by
petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical analyses. In particular a systematic study was made of the Oyo Mlange and the relationships to the bedded units.

SW

Mentawai

seconds
two-way-time

Outer Arc Ridge Fault

NE
Forearc Basin

(A) Nias Transect

1
2

Accretionary Complex

SUNDA TRENCH

Deformation
front

4
5
6

3000

20km

Vertical exaggeration
6.1 X

NE

SW
2000

Outer Arc Ridge

(B) South Sumatra Transect

Accretionary Complex

SUNDA TRENCH

4000

Depth in m

10

Indian Ocean Crust

slope basins

Deformation
front

5000
6000
7000
8000
9000

Indian Ocean Crust

10000

Vertical exaggeration
1.5 X

11000
26

28

30

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

46

48

50

52

54

56

58

60

62

64

66

68

Distance along profile in km

Fig. 11. (A) NESW line drawing from seismic prole to the south of Nias, from the Indian Ocean Floor across the Sunda Trench, the accretionary complex and the Outer Arc
Ridge to the Sumatran Forearc Basin (redrawn from Moore et al. (1980b)). (B) NESW line drawing from a seismic section offshore South Sumatra. The original section is in
Kopp and Kukowski (2003).

435

A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

100E

6N

9730'

9715'E

SUMATRAN
FOREARC

Simeulue

B
130'N

A
R
AT
M
SU

NIAS
0

A
11

.
Fig

Siberut

IN

Pagai

O
C
9745'
115'

115'

ch
en
Tr

6S

EA

GUNUNGSITOLI

a
nd
Su

IA

B
.11

Fi
100

200km

B
Fault
Lineament
Thrust
Anticline
Syncline

100

100'

Mud volcanoes

Alluvium

Oyo Mlange (blocks in

scaly clay)

Gunungsitoli Formation (Plio-Pleistocene)

Gomo Formation

)
) 'Nias Beds' (Early Miocene-Early Pliocene)
Lelematua Formation )
B
Conglomerate Member (Late Oligocene-Early Miocene)

Ophiolitic basement (B)

B
045'

reefs

10

20km
TELUKDALAM

reefs
9715'E

9730'

9745'

reefs

Fig. 12. Geological and structural map of the Island of Nias, Outer Arc, showing outcrops of the Oyo Mlange and the location of mud volcano elds. Locations marked B are
outcrops of coherent ophiolitic basement, in contrast to ophiolitic blocks in the mlange (based on Djamal et al. (1994) and Samuel (1994)). The thrusts shown on the SW side
of the mlange outcrops may not be correct, see text. Inset map shows location of Nias in the Sumatran Forearc and the position of the seismic lines in Fig. 11A and B.

been deposited in slope basins on the accretionary complex and

were uplifted and compressed during thrusting, with the growth
of the complex, until they were exposed in Nias.
On the other hand Samuel et al. (1995) found that the bedded
sediments on Nias had been deposited in basins developed on
top of the accretionary complex, bounded to the NE by syn-depositional extensional faults. They also found that the Upper Palaeogene and Neogene stratigraphic sequences on Nias correspond
with the same sequences in the Banyak and Batu islands, which
lie within the forearc basin to the northeast of Nias, and also in
boreholes in the forearc basin itself. These sequences resemble in
stratigraphy and lithology the units on Nias. Samuel et al. (1995)
therefore concluded from the occurrence of well-rounded quartz
pebbles and metamorphic clasts, in the Oligocene and Lower

Miocene sandstones and conglomerates, that the sediments on

Nias were derived from a mature continental provenance, either
basement uplifts in the forearc or the mainland of Sumatra, and
that prior to the Pleistocene, sedimentation extended continuously
from Sumatra across the present forearc basin onto the outer arc
islands, and do not correspond to the deposits in the Sunda Trench.
Samuel (1994) found that in addition to ophiolitic material, serpentinite, gabbro, basalt, calcilutite and chert of ocean oor provenance, at least 50%, and commonly 90% of the blocks in the
mlange had been derived from the bedded Oligocene and Lower
Miocene units, while some outcrops contained clasts of Upper Miocene and even Pleistocene units. He also found that the mud matrix
contained the same microfossils, had the same mineral composition and the same thermal history, yielding the same range of

436

A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

Fig. 13. The margin of a mud diapir exposed in the bank of a tributary stream of the
Oyo River, showing the grey scaly clay matrix, with a fabric parallel to the margin,
cutting and injected along joint fractures in a greywacke sandstone bed, Oyo
Mlange, Nias, Sumatran Outer Arc. Notebook 110  150 mm.

vitrinite values, as mudstones in the Oligocene to Lower Miocene

succession.
Samuel (1994) found that the scaly fabric that pervades the
mlange matrix is commonly vertical, but may be folded and
wrapped around the enclosed clasts, and at the contacts, the fabric
is parallel to the margins of the mlange outcrop (Fig. 13). Karig
et al. (1980) observed that as mlange units are traced along strike
they are in contact with different units of the Nias Beds, and are
sheared and mixed into the mlange. But as we have seen already,
a shearing process is not necessary to impart the scaly fabric to the
clay matrix of the mlanges (Yassir, 1987). Karig et al. (1980) interpreted these contacts as high angle reverse faults. However, Samuel et al. (1997) observed that the contacts between the mlange
and the adjacent bedded units are always intrusive, with the matrix penetrating along the bedding planes and fractures in the bedded units. If these observations are correct, the thrusts shown
along the SW margins of the mlange outcrops in geological map
(Fig. 12) are probably erroneous. The mlange was observed to
cut units of all ages from Oligocene to Recent. It appears that the
main period of mlange formation occurred during the Pliocene,
but mlange production continues to the present day, as shown
by the eruption of mud volcano elds (Fig. 12), extruding blocks
in a grey mud slurry, identical in composition and ages to the matrix of the mlange.
Similar mlanges, have been mapped on the other Sumatran
Outer Islands of Simeulue, Siberut, Sipora and Pagai, commonly
with circular outcrops, and associated with active mud volcanoes
(Endharto and Sukido, 1994; Andi Mangga and Burhan, 1994;
Budhitrisna and Andi Mangga, 1990). Evidently as in Timor and
the other island of the Outer Banda Arc System, the outer arc ridge
in the Sunda Arc system continues to be compressed, causing overpressure and the mobilisation of clays to form mud diapirs and
mud volcanoes.
4. Conclusions
Contrary to the hypothesis of Audley-Charles (1965), evidence
from Sumba and Timor indicates that there are no dbris ows
containing continental shelf blocks, associated with the development of the accretionary complex forming at the present day,
which could account for the Bobonaro Scaly Clay Mlange on Timor. Evidence from Sumba indicates that large volumes of
mlange, in the form of diapirs, were generated by overpressured
uids in the Australian continental marginal sediments, before
they were incorporated into the accretionary complex. The

experimental work of Yassir (1987) shows that the presence of a

scaly clay fabric does not necessarily indicate tectonic deformation,
as Hamilton (1979) assumed. However, it is possible for deformation to be superimposed on mlanges after accretion has ceased,
e.g. Barber et al. (1986) describe mlange sheared along strike-slip
faults in West Timor, and Harris et al. (1998) has suggested that the
mlanges occur along the base of major thrusts developed during
the progress of the collision. It may be that the diapiric mlanges
have provided weak zones along which the thrust planes were
developed. Evidence from Timor and the islands to the east, indicates that compression and thrusting to produce overpressure,
with the formation of mud diapirs and mud volcanoes in the Outer
Banda Arc, due to the collision with Australia, continues to the
present day.
The seismic sections across the Sunda Trench, the accretionary
complex and the Outer Arc Ridge offshore Sumatra show no evidence of mud diapirism from the Nicobar Fan sediments on the Indian Ocean oor (Fig. 11A and B), in contrast to the Northwest
Australian Shelf south of Sumba, where the sequence contains a
permeable clastic sequence overlain by impermeable clays which
could be mobilised by overpressures generated by the loading of
the accretionary complex. Although the presence of dbris ows
in the Sunda Trench or in slope basins on the developing accretionary complex in the Sunda Arc system, as proposed by Karig et al.
(1979), nor the disruption and break-up of units by thrusts within
the accretionary complex, cannot denitely be ruled out, Samuels
(1994; Samuel et al., 1995, 1997) study of the geology of the island
of Nias has shown conclusively that these processes were not
responsible for the formation of the mlanges on Nias. Samuel
(1994) found that the Oyo Mlange Complex was formed as mud
diapirs within extensional sedimentary basins, formed on top of
the accretionary complex. Nor were the mlanges deformed as
the result of the continual reactivation of the accretionary complex, causing the development of thrust planes with further disruption and the formation of the scaly fabric, as Moore and Karig
(1980) had suggested. As we have seen the occurrence of mud volcano elds on Nias and the other Sunda Outer Arc islands indicates
that compression-generated overpressures forming diapiric
mlange is still in the process of formation at the present day.
Nevertheless, the olistostromal and tectonic models for the formation of mlanges proposed by Karig et al. (1979) has been so immensely persuasive and inuential that it has been invoked as an
explanation for the occurrence of mlanges all over the world;
e.g. Turkey and the Himalayas (Collins and Robertson, 1997; Robertson and Pickett, 2000; Robertson and Ustamer, 2011). Hamilton (1979), as a Californian geologist, would have been well
aware of the work at Scripps, which led him to the interpretation
of the Bobonaro Scaly Mlange of West Timor as of tectonic origin,
formed by the process visualised by Karig et al. (1979).
As far as the author is aware no clasts of blueschist or eclogite
have been recorded from the mlanges on Timor or on the Outer
Sunda Arc islands, which as has been explained originated as diapirs on a continental shelf or in an active continental margin environment. Clasts of ophiolitic materials are found in the mlanges
on both Timor and Nias but these have been incorporated when
diapirs have penetrated overlying accreted slices of ocean crust.
Mlanges that contain clasts of blueschists, eclogites and other
high grade metamorphic rocks, often in a serpentinous matrix such
as those in the Franciscan Mlange of California and the Peleru
Mlange Complex of Central Sulawesi have risen diapirically up
the subduction zone from the mantle, as earlier authors have suggested (Cloos, 1984, 1985; Parkinson, 1996).
In a landmark paper, Kopf (2002, Fig. 1) building on an earlier
review by Higgins and Saunders (1967) catalogued the occurrence
of mud volcanism and mud diapirism throughout the world; he
noted that they are especially developed on convergent plate

A.J. Barber / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 76 (2013) 428438

margins. Mud diapirs and mud volcanoes are particularly abundant

in the collision zone between Africa and Eurasia and in the subduction and collision zones between the Indian and Australian plates
and Southeast Asia. The oor of the Mediterranean Sea has been
particularly well studied by marine geophysical surveys in the past
two decades (see Camerlenghi and Pini, 2009, Fig. 4). Kopf (2002)
claims that is arguably the region with the highest abundance
of MVs (mud volcanoes) and diapirs on Earth. Several hundred
mud volcanoes and mud diapirs have been discovered on Mediterranean Ridge accretionary complex to the south of Crete, formed
by the subduction of the African Plate beneath the European Plate.
The mud volcanoes have been imaged by seismic surveys and
swath mapping and have been sampled by coring, deep drilling
and the use of submersibles, with study of the blocks and the clay
matrix. It is a remarkable anomaly that although mlanges occur
commonly on the adjacent land areas of Greece, Crete, Cyprus
and Southern Turkey they are invariably attributed to the processes of submarine slumping and tectonism, not to mud diapirism
(Camerlenghi and Pini, 2009, Fig. 3). Although mud diapirs may be
difcult to recognise in older mlanges on land because diagnostic
features such as mud volcanoes have long since been eroded away,
and the cross-cutting relationships have been modied or destroyed by later tectonism. However, examples are known where
mlanges are incorporated into metamorphic complexes and have
been deformed and recrystallised to form schists, in which blocks
attened in the foliation planes are injected by the matrix, showing
evidence of overpressure, as seen in diapiric mlange. Structural
and tectonic geologists working on mlanges on land should consider more seriously the possibility that mud diapirism may have
played a role in their formation. In the recent Special Issue of Tectonophysics (Dilek et al., 2012) there is evidence in the papers by
Festa et al. (2012), Codegone et al. (2012a), Codegone et al.
(2012b) and Wakita (2012) that this possibility is beginning to
be appreciated.

Acknowledgements
The author is indebted to Dr. Tim Charlton for his companionship and support over many years of work on the geology of Timor.
He is also thanked for reinterpreting the side-scan sonar imagery
across the Timor Trough, shown as Fig. 5 in this paper, to clarify
some ambiguities in the original interpretation prepared for his
Ph.D. Thesis in 1987.

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