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Pre-Grenvillian high-pressure granulite metamorphism from the
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SOC.India, v. 53, pp. 385-399.
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Lippolt, H.J. and Hautmann, S. (1994) 40Ar/39Ar

managanese ore minerals from Sweden, India and Morocco.

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Radhakrishna, B.F! and Ramakrishnan, M. (1988) Archaean-Proterozoic
boundary in India. J.Geol. Sochdia, v. 32. pp. 263-278.
Yedekar, D.B., Jain, S.C., Nair, K.K.K. and Dutta, K.K. (1990) The Central
Indian collision suture. GSI Spl. Publ., No. 28, pp. 1-43.
Yoshida, M. (1995) Assembly of east Gondwanaland during
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A Critical Evaluation of Plate Tectonic Models for the Development of

Sumatra
A.J.Barber1and M.J. Crow2
I

Southeast Asian Research Group, Department of Geology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey,
TW20 OE X , U .K., E-mail: 106731.1236@conzpuserve.com
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, U.K.

Over the past two decades models have been developed which
suggest that the Asian continent has been formed by the accretion
of continental blocks derived from the northern margin of
Gondwanaland. Sumatra which forms the southwestern margin
of the Southeast Asian promontory (Sundaland) is considered
to be composed of fragments of continental plates and magmatic
arcs which were derived from Gondwanaland during the Late
Palaeozoic and Mesozoic (see Metcalfe, 1996 and references
therein). The core of Sundaland is formed by the Indochina
Block, extending into the eastern part of the Malay Peninsula.
The greater part of Sumatra forms part of the Sibumasu Block,
which accreted to the Indochina Block along the Bentong-Raub
Suture in the Triassic (Metcalfe, 2000). It has been suggested
that the southern part of the Sibumasu Block in the western
part of the Malay Peninsula, and in Sumatra, is divided into
Malacca and Mergui Microplates, separated by the Mutus
Assemblage which also represents a Triassic suture (Pulunggono
and Cameron, 1984). A review of the Permo-Triassic stratigraphy
of Malaya a n d Sumatra provides n o support for this
interpretation.
Comparison of the Permo-Carboniferous stratigraphy and
palaeontology of northern Sumatra with that of the Malay
Peninsula and Peninsular Thailand, and in particular the
occurrence of tillites, links Sumatra firmly to the rest of the
Sibumasu Block to the north (Cameron et al., 1980). Comparison
with the Permo-Carboniferous stratigraphy of Bonaparte Gulf
region of northwest Australia (Roberts and Veevers, 1973)
suggests a mirror image relationship, indicating that the
Sibumasu Block separated from this part of the Gondwanan
margin in the mid-Permian. On the other hand the PermoCarboniferous of Central Sumatra contains a Cathaysian fauna
and flora, related to the Indochina Block rather than to Sibumasu
(Fontaine and Gafoer, 1989). This anomaly was recognised early
in the study of the geology of Sumatra and led to the proposal
of a Djambi Nappe, thrust over Sumatra from the east

v v v Lower to Mid Permian

%
,,,,Iwith volcanic arc
Y

~ E S TSUMATRA

carboniferous

Mid to Upper Permian

3 S T MALAYA
SIBUMASU

Fig. 1.

U,.a .

Medial Sumatra
Q Tectonic
Zone

@,)
~

Medial Malaya Line

(Bentong-Raub
Suture)
~

Carboniferous-Permianwithout
Diamictite(sand dominant)
Carboniferous-Permianwith
Diamiclie (Pebbly mudslone)

Stratigraphic units and tectonicblock, which have amalgamated to make

up Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, modified from Hutchison (1994).

Gondwana Research, V. 4, No. 4,2002

RODINIA, GONDWANA AND ASIA

(Zwierzijcki, 1930). The Cathaysian fauna and flora is associated

with an Early Permian volcanic arc (Fontaine and Gafoer, 1989).
It has been suggested that this was an independent island arc
accreted to the western margin of Sibumasu (Wajzer et al., 1991;
McCourt et al., 1993), but from the relationships of the volcanic
rocks to Permian sediments and the underlying basement, it is
most probable that this arc was developed on the margin of the
Cathaysian Block.
The most recently accreted pre-Tertiary unit on Sumatra is
the Woyla Group, a Jurassic-Early Cretaceous oceanic volcanic
arc, which together with its associated accretionary complex of
oceanic crustal material was thrust over the western margin of
Sumatra in the mid-Cretaceous (Barber, 2000). There are many
problems still to be resolved in establishing the stratigraphy of
the Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic rocks of Sumatra, in the
definition of the crustal blocks and in determining the ages at
which the various blocks were accreted to the margin of
Sundaland. In this account, tectonic models which have been
proposed for the evolution of Sumatra (e.g., Zwierzijcki, 1930;
Pulunggono and Cameron, 1984; Fontaine and Gafoer, 1989;
Wajzer et al., 1991; Metcalfe, 1996; Hutchison, 1994) will be
critically assessed, a modified interpretation proposed (Fig.l ) ,
and those aspects of the geology will be identified which require
further detailed studies, with the aim of resolving the many
outstanding problems.

References
Barber, A.J. (2000) The origin of the Woyla terranes in Sumatra and
the Late Mesozoic evolution of the Sundaland margin. J. Asian Earth
Sci., v. 18, pp. 713-738.

571

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Petroleum Association. Proceedings of the 9th Annual Convention,
Jakarta, 1980, pp. 149.187.
Fontaine, H. and Gafoer, S. (1989) The pre-Tertiary fossils of Sumatra
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McCourt, W.J., Gafoer, S., Amin, T.C., Andi Mangga, S., Kusnama,
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evolution of southern Sumatra. Southern Sumatra geological and
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Indonesia.
Metcalfe, I. (1996) Pre-Cretaceous evolution of SE Asian terranes. In:
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Metcalfe, I. (2000) The Bentong-Raub suture zone. J. Asian Earth. Sci.,
V. 18, pp. 691-792.
Pulunggono, A. and Cameron, N.R. (1984) Sumatran microplates, their
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121-144.
Roberts, J. and Veevers, J.J. (1973) Summary of BMR studies of the
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Bull., V.139, pp. 29-57.
Wajzer, M.R., Barber, A.J., Hidayat, S. and Suharsono (1991) Accretion,
collision and strike-slip faulting: the Woyla Group as a key to the
tectonic evolution of North Sumatra.J. Southeast Asian Earth. Sci.,
V. 4, pp. 447-463.
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Indie, Verhandlingen 1929, v. 58, pp. 73-157.

Mineral Chemistry and Temperature Estimates of the Aluminous Granulites,

Southern Kamataka, India
M. Basavama
Department of Geology, Karnatak University, Dharwad - 580 003, India
Aluminous (Al) granulites are extensively distributed
in the high-grade region of southern Karnataka craton. The
A1 rich granulites occur as narrow isolated bands/lenses
showing conformable relation with the associated charnockites
and other granulite and amphibolite facies rocks of the area.
These granulites contain cordierite, garnet, biotite, sillinianite
and plagioclase. The present study aims a t providing
comprehensive data on the chemistry and P-T estimations of
these rocks.
Electron probe micro analysis of the main mineral phases
show that garnet is essentially almandine-pyrope with 61 to
67Vo almandine and 30 to 35% pyrope and they occupy the
field of granulite and biotite paragenesis (Troger, 1959).
Cordierite is rich in Al,O,, MgO and FeO and poor in CaO and
Na,O. The Fe0:MgO ratio varies from 3 to 12. The K value
indicates a strong preference of iron for garnet. Biotite is typically
titanium rich and relatively high in iron. The chemistry of
sillimanite does not bear any significant variations. The
Gondwana Research, V. 4, No. 4,2001

orthopyroxene (Opx) is rich in MgO, FeO and Al,O, and totally

lack alkalis. The K values obtained for garnet-biotite, garnetcordierite and biotite-cordierite suggest the attainment of
equilibrium during the crystallization of these minerals. The
equilibrium temperature obtained for garnet-cordierite and
garnet-biotite pairs is 673C and 748C respectively and
comparable to the temperature estimates (766-657C) by garcpx geothermometery (Mahabaleswar et al., 1984) for part of
the high grade region of southern Karnataka. The mineral
assemblages and their chemistry suggest that these rocks
represent Al rich metasediments developed under granulite facies
conditions. The appearance of cordierite is highly dependent
upon the bulk composition. The appearance of hypersthene is
either related to the reaction between biotite and quartz or
controlled by MgO+FeO+Al,O, ratio. The garnet breakdown
reaction took place as a consequence of isothermal
decompression, probably accompanied by oxidizing condition
that produced magnetite. The temperature estimates made on