UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GEODINAMIKA 2018

PRODI TEKNIK GEOLOGI, UNIVERSITAS PERTAMINA

Eastern Indonesia Regional Tectonic Evolution and The Implications Towards Basin Evolution
Along the Geological Resources of Berau Basin, Irian Jaya
Firman Aldilah1
1) 101216088

Abstract - Eastern Indonesia that located on eastern part of Indonesian Archipelago are renowned for the complex
tectonics development and also forming complex basin that associated with the tectonic evolution. Berau basin were
formed as a result of westward movement of Bird’s Head microcontinents that collided between Seram Arc, Australian
plate and Pacific-Philippine Sea Plate. By using secondary data that had been researched. Author aimed to provide
the geodynamics evolution from Eastern Indonesia Regional Scale into Basin Scale of Berau Area and discussed the
geological prospect evaluation in this literature

Keywords: Eastern Indonesia, Berau Basin, Tectonic Evolution, Bird’s Head Microcontinent

INTRODUCTION

Eastern Indonesia that located on eastern part of

Indonesian Archipelago are renowned for the complex
tectonics that occurred in the area. This area was part
of convergent zone between three major plate consist
of Eurasian Plate (South East Asia part or Sunda
Shelf), Australian Plate, and Philippine Sea - Pacific
Plate, these assembly are called the Triple Junction.
This triple junction producing an active zone of
Subduction and Collision as well as Strike-slip fault
(Figure 1).

Irian Jaya/Papua Island are located in the most eastern

part of Indonesian archipelago. As stated earlier,
Papua Island had some common strike-slip fault
movement that cause vast deformation zone. The
northern Papua had a major sinistral strike-slip fault
system that extended more than 1000 km with east to
west orientation, this fault are called Yapen-Sorong
Fault Zone and interpreted as transform fault bounded
Pacific Plate in the north and Australia plate in south
(Riadini & Sapiie, 2011). Meanwhile, in the Bird Head Figure 1. Map of the eastern Indonesian region showing the major tectonic
region, this fault known as the SFZ (Sorong Fault structures and basins.(Hinschberger et al., 2005)
Zone) changing strike direction from NW-SE into NE- Toponymy: BS: Banggai–Sula; HS: Halmahera subduction; LFZ: lowland
SW on the west corner and causing complex fault zone; NBSB: North Banda Sea Basin; NGTB: New Guinea thrust belt;
deformational pattern in this region. This NT: Negros Trench; PFZ: Philippine Fault zone; SBSB: South Banda Sea
Basin; SFZ: Sorong Fault zone; TAFZ: Tarera Aiduna Fault zone; and WT:
compressional tectonic regime had indication of
Wetar back-arc thrust.
forming basin around the shelf. One of the basins that
located in the area are Berau Basin that positioned on that show some similarity in stratigraphy and
the offshore area. According to Sedimentary Basin deformation setting, the other basin is Salawati Basin
Map of Indonesia (Badan Geologi, 2010) this basin in Northwest and Bintuni Basin ranging from east to
was part of Foreland Passive Margin, probably southern area.
Australian Plate and had another neighboring basin
 UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GEODINAMIKA 2018
PRODI TEKNIK GEOLOGI, UNIVERSITAS PERTAMINA

This study will be focused on the geodynamic

evolution of Eastern Indonesia from regional scale to
basin scale, specifically Berau Basin and will
discussed geological resources prospect evaluation in
this case the petroleum prospect evaluation.

Figure 3 Structural element map of the Bird’s Head area.

The map also identifies the basins in the area and the NW-
SE trend of the Sekak Ridges which is where the Tangguh
fields are located(Syafron et al., 2008)
The method implemented to get an approach in this
study are qualitative data from literatures and
Figure 2 Bird’s Head Map, showing the offshore Berau
area and the Berau Basin in relation to the Tangguh fields
analyzing the data to approach the geodynamics
from Bintuni Basin (Syafron et al., 2008) evolution of regional scale of Papua island and
DATA AND METHOD berau basin evolution along with geological
resources prospects.
The data that had been used in this study are
secondary data from reliable sources that consist of
REGIONAL GEOLOGY
collected literatures, the literatures were a product
Being part of complex tectonic caused by triple
of primary research data that discussing the
junction of plate, Papua Island were influenced by
Regional Geology, Tectonic and Basin Evolution,
two major active tectonic elements. This tectonic
and also hydrocarbon prospect of Berau area.
elements are Pacific plate that moving in W-SW
orientation at 7.5 cm/year and Australian plate that
moving in northward direction at 10.5 cm/year,
these two major plate had been moving since
Eocene and continue into present day(Riadini &
Sapiie, 2011).

Berau Basin are positioned on the offshore berau

area and located about 100 km west of Tangguh
Area in Bintuni Basin at Bird’s Head, Papua. Most
structural elements on Bird’s head region was in
compressional setting caused by convergence of
Australian Plate that moving northwest with Pacific
Plate that moving southwest during the
Cenozoic(Syafron et al., 2008). This collision
formed structural elements that surrounding the
 UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GEODINAMIKA 2018
PRODI TEKNIK GEOLOGI, UNIVERSITAS PERTAMINA

bird’s head region. It is consisting of Sorong Fault

Zone (SFZ) in northern part, Lengguru Fold-Belt in
eastern part, Tarera Aiduna Fault (TAF) zone in
southern part, and Seram Through in western part.
The map in figure 3 also show the sekak ridges with
the trends of NW-SE

TECTONIC RECONSTRUCTION
The tectonic reconstruction made in this study were
based on Hinschberger et al., 2005 research with
additional source from (Katili, 1991)
➢ 30 Ma
Aftermath break-up of Gondwana, causing the
development of a major spreading axis in the
Indian Ocean and followed by a major subduction
pattern of the Indonesian region. As Australia
drifted northward, New Guinea approached and
collided with the Sepik island arc (Downey, 1986
in Katili, 1991) On the southeast the older east-
west trending Sepik island arc united with New
Guinea, separating Australian continental plate Figure 4 Reconstruction of the eastern Indonesian region at
from the Pacific plate. Furthermore, the welded 13 Ma(Hinschberger et al., 2005).
New Guinea and Sepik forming a larger ➢ 9 Ma
microcontinent, arriving at the edge of the Eurasian This year are the mark of the beginning of Seram
plate (Southeast Asia part) then colliding with the subduction. transform fault (proto Tarera–Aiduna
Inner Melanesian arc (Daly, 1986 in Katili, 1991). Fault) is suitable to provide western subduction of
This concluding a new interaction between the oceanic lithosphere associated to the Bird’s Head
northward moving Australian plate and moving microplate. The obliquity of this subduction
Pacific Plate in W-NW orientation induces strike–slip motions in the arc and local
➢ 13 Ma ophiolites obduction occurred on Seram (Linthout
At this time the northward moving Australian and Helmers, 1994 in Hinschberger et al., 2005). The
continent is situated far to the south. In this time northern part of the relative Australian/PSP motion
Molucca Sea was part of the Philippine that is still absorbed at the reduced rate by the Sorong
moving westwards on the Pacific-Philippine Sea Fault zone.
plate along a strand of the active Sorong Fault
zone. This fault is act as main tectonic boundary
between the Philippine and Australian plates with
the relative motion between these two plates, the
movement along this fault is sinistral strike–slip at
± 12 cm/year.
 UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GEODINAMIKA 2018
PRODI TEKNIK GEOLOGI, UNIVERSITAS PERTAMINA
Figure 5 Reconstruction of the eastern Indonesian region at
9 Ma(Hinschberger et al., 2005).
➢ 6.5 Ma
During Late Miocene the Timor–Seram Ocean is
subducted mostly beneath the Banda Arc.
Figure 6 Reconstruction of the eastern Indonesian region a
t6.5 Ma (Hinschberger et al., 2005).
➢ 3.5 Ma
The continental shelf situated in front of the
Bird’s Head microplate begins to enter the Seram
subduction zone, inducing a collisional episode in
Seram. Associated to the Seram subduction, the
Ambon volcanic arc that appeared around 5 Ma
continues to be active during the collision.
Figure 7 Reconstruction of the eastern Indonesian region
at 3.5 Ma(Hinschberger et al., 2005).
➢ 0 Ma
From 3.5 Ma until present day the Bird’s head
microplate are entirely subducted along the Seram
Through and also arc-continental collision
occurred in Seram. The Sorong Fault is also active
but at a low rate with the GPS measurements of
(Bock et al. 2003 in Hinschberger et al., 2005)
suggest 19±8 mm/year slip at 128° E.
Figure 8 Reconstruction of the eastern Indonesian region
at 0 Ma(Hinschberger et al., 2005).
 UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GEODINAMIKA 2018
PRODI TEKNIK GEOLOGI, UNIVERSITAS PERTAMINA

BASIN EVOLUTION
As the part of Australian plate before pre-tertiary,
Berau basin has vast range of rock with age starting
from Paleozoic into Cenozoic. The basement of this
basin is Kemum formation from Silurian-Devonian
period, this formation consists of Slate, Phyllite,
Sandstone and Quartzite that exposed to low grade
metamorphism and also becoming metasediment and
a unconformity between Kemum and the lower part of
Aifam formation (Situmorang et al., 2018). Kemum
Formation was also part of Pre-Rift Sequences in
Berau Basin. The sedimentation during the Permian
until Jurassic Period were dominated by siliciclastic
deposits. In addition, during this period the Syn-Rift
Sequence with the presence of a series of half grabens
caused by compressional movement, the sediments
were thickened to the Southwest direction. Permian
period lithology is dominated by shale, sandstone and
coal, shown in the Aifam (Aiduna, Aifat, and Ainim)
formations with depositional environment in shallow
marine to continental. During the Triassic period,
Tipuma Formation was deposited in a shallow marine-
to-continental setting with lithology dominated by Red
Shale and Sandstone, this formation was also marked
the end of Syn-Rift Sequences. Transgressive back-
stepping sequences of shallow marine sequence was
deposited during the Jurassic period forming parts of Figure 9 The tectonostratigraphic framework of the early
Cenozoic of the Bird’s Head region (from Syafron et al., 2008
Lower Kembelangan Formation, this sequence mark ;modified by Mardani & Butterworth, 2016)
the beginning of Post-Rift Sequences in Berau Basin.
This sequence also contains Roabiba Sandstone of also a secondary reservoir objective within
Middle Jurassic that accepted as the main reservoir in the Berau basin(Syafron et al., 2008). During the
the Bird’s Head region in the Tangguh Area. Late Oligo-Miocene, the collision between the Australian
Jurassic to Cretaceous period had a Shale with thin plate and the Pacific plate causing uplift in the region
sandstone deposit, meanwhile carbonate developed in and increased the siliciclastic sediment input. The
areas with low input of siliciclastic. Shelves to deep Klasafet and Steenkool formations were started to be
marine carbonates are dominating Tangguh Area deposited after collision period end. The Klasafet
during Cretaceous Period. Carbonates Platform was formation consists of deep marine shale, while
developed during the Paleocene to Oligo-Miocene Stenkool is comprised of shallow marine shale and
epoch, as this carbonate platform developed, the sandstone, as well as continental to transitional
limestones of Imskin, Faumai, and Kais formation coal(Syafron et al., 2008). Stratigraphically Berau
were also deposited. Some clastic deposition basin is not very different from the other adjacent
occurred throughout the Paleocene, the Bird’s Head basin of Salawati and Bintuni but Berau basin are not
region on the other hand is predominately shelf to deep a very productive basin like these basins.
marine shale. A submarine fan deposited within the RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Tangguh area has been delineated as a ‘submarine The aftermath of Gondwana break up developing the
channel sandstone deposit’ and this sandstone is spreading of Indian ocean and triggered the major
 UJIAN AKHIR SEMESTER GEODINAMIKA 2018
PRODI TEKNIK GEOLOGI, UNIVERSITAS PERTAMINA

subduction in Indonesia region, continued until the Bird’s Head region shown to be had a vast range of
forming of triple junction of Eurasian Plate, Australian age from Paleozoic into Cenozoic. This vast range of
Plate, and Philippine Sea-Pacific Plate that had been age could provide a well matured hydrocarbons
subducted and collided from time to time and prospect. However, unlike Salawati and Bintuni basin
producing a vast compressional tectonic regime in in the Bird’s Head Region Berau basin is not a
Eastern Indonesia. This compressional tectonic regime productive hydrocarbons prospect and only had
could form a series of half grabens that provide basin limited volume resources. Further research and
for sediment to be deposited. These half grabens exploration are needed to be commence to determine
continue to developed during the drifting of the Bird’s this problem
Head Microplate and stopped during the begin of REFERENCES
collision, after the collision of Bird’s Head microplate Hinschberger, F., Malod, J. A., Réhault, J. P.,
with another plate the collision cause an uplift to the Villeneuve, M., Royer, J. Y., & Burhanuddin,
region providing an increased in siliciclastic sediment S. 2005. Tectonophysics, 404(1–2), 91–118.
Katili, J. A. 1991. Marine and Petroleum Geology,
input, thus making a thick deposit of sedimentary
8(1), 70–83.
rocks. Mardani, R., & Butterworth, P.
BASIN EVALUATION 2016.Proceeding,Indonesian Petroleum
Based on Syafron et.al (2008) data that use Association: 2016 Technical Symposium.
geochemical analysis from exploration well in berau Riadini, P., & Sapiie, B. 2011. AAPG Search and
basin there are three potential source rocks in the Pre- Discovery, 50489, 2–7.
Tertiary interval in the Offshore of Berau basin, which Situmorang, H., Kesumajana, A. H., & Subroto, E. A.
are: Permian coal, Jurassic shale and Jurassic coal, 2018.. Bulletin of Geology, 2(2), 257–270.
these potential source rocks are part of Syn-Rift Syafron, E., Mardani, R., Susilo, S. ., & Anshori, R.
Sequence and all shown to be gas-prone source rocks. 2008.Proceeding, Indonesian Petroleum
There is a small amount of oil could possibly be Association 32nd Annual Convention &
generated by the Jurassic shale source rock because Exhibition , (May 2008).
the TOC is only up to 5% with HI of 102 – 382
mgS2/gTOC. Meanwhile, the Jurassic Coal is also
having TOC of 7 to 23% with HI of 246 – 259
mgS2/gTOC and thickness up to 30 feet. The Permian
coal has TOC of 10 to 46% with HI of 274 - 414
mgS2/gTOC. Both Jurassic Coal and Permian Coal
were also shown to be a gas prone source rock. Given
the circumstances, there is a certainty that this Source
rocks only generated limited amount of hydrocarbon
in Berau basin. The main promising reservoir in the
offshore Berau basin is the transgressive sandstones
sequence of the Jurassic, well known as Roabiba
Sandstone that test out in Tangguh Area with plausible
top seal of Roabiba Sandstone is the Middle Jurassic
shale of Lower Kembangan and the Late Jurassic marl
of Ayot Formation in top of Lower Kembangan. The
middle Jurassic Shale has proved to be a good seal in
the Tangguh fields.

CONCLUSIONS

The tectonic evolution of Eastern Indonesia that

influenced by a complex subducting and collision zone
had fascinating impact on the forming of Basin in the
Bird’s Head Region. All the basin that formed in