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CONTRASTING PROTOLITHS OF CRETACEOUS METAMORPHIC ROCKS

FROM THE LUK ULO ACCRETIONARY WEDGE COMPLEX OF CENTRAL
JAVA, INDONESIA

Ade Kadarusman1), Haryadi Permana2), Hans-Joachim Massonne3), Herman van

Roermund4), Munasri2), Bambang Priadi5)
1)
Mining & Exploration Department, PT Inco Tbk, Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
2)
Research Centre for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jl. Sangkuriang,
Bandung 40135, Indonesia
3)
Institut fuer Mineralogie und Kristallchemie, Universitaet Stuttgart, Azenbergstrasse 18,
Stuttgart 70174, Germany
4)
Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3508, The Netherlands
5)
Department of Geology, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Rocks of the Lok Ulo Accretionary Complex crop out over a small (<100 km2) area in
the Karangsambung residency of Central Java. They are part of Cretaceous accretionary wedge
complexes in Central Indonesia, which are distributed sporadically in an arc extending from
southwest and central Java to southeast Kalimantan and southern Sulawesi. The Lok Ulo complex
consists of various types of rocks occurring as tectonic slabs in a black-shale matrix tectonic
melange. The slabs are composed of a dismembered ophiolite, sedimentary rocks, and crystalline
schists and gneisses.
The metamorphic rocks have two different kinds of protoliths and differ in P-T evolution
as well. The first group (called `oceanic plate protolith') consists of fine-grained metabasites with
metapelitic intercalations ranging from greenschist to amphibolite facies. High-pressure rocks
such as eclogite, partially containing lawsonite and tourmaline, jadeite-glaucophane schist and
blueschist crop out in a thin zone between the low-grade schists and a serpentinite zone along
Kali Muncar. They are associated with a succession of metabasalt, serpentinite, chert and red
limestone as common constituents of an ophiolite. The second group (called `continental crustal
protolith') consists of low to high grade medium pressure metapelites, calc-silicate rocks, and
metagranites (gneisses, quartzites, marbles, felsic granulites), and minor bimodal low grade
metavolcanic. These rocks are presumably associated with a monotonous sequence of metapelites
from the chlorite zone up to the garnet zone exposed in the northern and eastern part of the
Karangsambung area (e.g. Kali Loning).
Our findings suggest that the metamorphic rocks from the Lok Ulo complex are not the
simple result of subduction metamorphism along the Indo-Australian oceanic plate (margin of the
Sundaland craton) in the early Cretaceous as previously thought. The observed presence of low to
high grade schists and gneisses of continental supracrustal parentage point to an early
involvement of continental crust during the collisional event at least in the Karangsambung area
(eastern part of the subduction zone).

INTRODUCTION in Central Java (Figure 1). This complex is

part of a belt characterized by several
The Lok Ulo Accretionary Complex (e.g., Cretaceous accretionary – collision complex
Wakita, 2000) crops out over a small (<100 in Central Indonesia, which are distributed
km2) area near the village of Karangsambung sporadically in an arc extending from
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southwest and central Java, to southeast
Kalimantan and southern Sulawesi.
The Lok Ulo Complex involves an
assemblage of E–W trending tectonic blocks.
They consist of various types of rocks
occurring as tectonic slabs in a black-shale
matrix mélange (Asikin, 1974; Ketner et al.,
1976; Suparka, 1988; Wakita et al., 1991;
Wakita et al., 1994)). The slabs are composed
of a chaotic mixture of dismembered
ophiolite, volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks,
high-pressure (HP) metamorphic rocks as well
as ordinary crystalline schists and gneisses.
The complex is unconformably overlain by
the Eocene Karangsambung Formation.
Relationships among the rocks are unclear.
The ages of chert components range from
Jurassic to Late Cretaceous (Wakita et al.,
1994). Micas from schists yielded age ranging
between 110 and 117 Ma (Ketner et al., 1976;
Miyazaki et al., 1998).
The presence of metamorphic rocks in the
Lok-Ulo Complex has been known for more
than half a century. Surprisingly, limited
detailed studies have been undertaken on
these rocks except the study of HP
metamorphic rocks such a jadeite-
glaucophane rock by Miyazaki et al. (1998)
and recently by Kadarusman et al., (2007) for
the P-T Evolution of eclogites and blueschists.
In addition, general studies of metamorphic
rocks from the Lok Ulo complex were
presented by Parkinson et al. (1998) and
Kadarusman et al. (2005). This study focuses
on all the various metamorphic rocks types in
the Lok Ulo Complex with emphasize of
protolith classification.
LOK ULO METAMORPHIC
ROCKS
The geology of the Karangsambung area is
characterized by the Lok Ulo Complex which
is unconformably overlain by volcanic and
sedimentary rocks of the Eocene
Karangsambung Formation (Asikin et al.,
1992). The rocks of this formation and of
Tertiary sequences, subdivided into the
Totogan, Waturanda, Penosogan and Halang
Formations in ascending order (Figure 1), are
gently folded with an east-west trending
vertical axial plane. The tectonic relationships
among the blocks (or slabs) of the Lok-Ulo
complex are unclear. Their long axes trend
ENE-WSW, parallel to the strike of the
Waturanda and Totogan Formations (Figure
1). Large tectonic blocks, consisting of
dismembered ophiolites (Suparka, 1988), are
distributed in the central part of the Lok-Ulo
Complex.
The best outcrops of the Lok Ulo
Metamorphic Complex, which are associated
with dismembered ophiolite, are along the
Muncar and Gua Rivers (Figure 2). They
consist of HP rocks of eclogites, glaucophane
rock and blueschist, and medium pressure
rocks such as garnet amphibolite and
greenschist. The dismembered ophiolite
composed of basalt, gabbro/diabase,
serpentinite, chert and red limestone; they are
actually undergone ocean floor or
hydrothermal metamorphism of low pressure
and low temperature condition.
We collected samples from loose blocks of
eclogite, glaucophane rock, blueschist,
greenschist and amphibolite occurring close to
serpentinite and ophiolitic rocks along the
Muncar and Gua river. Therefore, it is
inferred that these block were once included
within the serpentinite. The blocks are
variable in size from 30 cm up to 5 m. In the
Muncar river, eclogite blocks are dominant
over blocks of blueschist and glaucophane
rock, however, in the Gua river it is vice
versa. The collected HP metabasic rocks were
divided into four groups: (I) tourmaline-
bearing eclogite (TEC), (II) normal eclogite
without tourmaline (EC), (III) glaucophane
rock (GR), and (IV) blueschist (BS)
(Kadarusman et al, 2007).
Study by Kadarusman et al. (2005) and also
this study confirmed that the metamorphic
rocks from Lok Ulo Complex do not only
consist of HP metamorphic rocks as describe
above, but also of very low to low grade as
well as medium grade low-pressure
metabasites and metapelites. Amphibolite-
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facies schists (predominantly garnet-mica
schists) are tectonically intercalated within
sediments of larger tectonic blocks (Figure 2).
The Lok Ulo Complex may also include
continental material from deeper crustal levels
found as loose blocks along the Lok-Ulo,
Loning and Lokidang rivers. This material
consists of metamorphosed coarse grained
pelitic, calc-silicate and granitic rocks
(gneisses, migmatite, quartzites, marbles,
felsic granulites) as well as minor bimodal
metavolcanics (Figure 2).
MINERAL ASSEMBLAGES AND P-T
ESTIMATION
The mineral assemblages of HP metabasic
rocks and very low to low grade as well as
medium grade low-pressure metabasites and
metapelites are shown in Figure 3. The
mineral chemistry of selected rocks are shown
in Figure 4. Presence of granulite and granitic
gneiss as lower-medium crustal constituents
(continental crustal protoliths) are first ever
reported in Karangsambung. This is proven
that continental materials are present in
Karang Sambung area.
P-T estimates for various rocks of the Lok
Ulo Accretionary Complex are shown in
Figure 5. The underlying petrogenetic grid is
based on that by Maruyama et al. (1996).
Geothermobarometric calculations were
achieved with PTGIBBS (Brandelik &
Massonne, 2004) using thermodynamic
relations of mineral phases and components as
well as specific mineral equilibria. In addition
various other geothermobarometric methods
were applied (Brown,1977; Maruyama et
al.,1986; Graham & Powell, 1984; Kohn &
Spear,1989). Detail P-T calculation obtained
from Kadarusman et al, (2005 & 2007) and
also unpublished data from Kadarusman
(2005) that showed the granitic gneisses
estimation were metamorphosed at T = 580 -
620 °C and P = 5-6 kbar.
The petrological studies concerned of HP rock
types (eclogite and blueschist) showing
mineral assemblages with jadeite and
lawsonite (Miyazaki et al., 1998; Parkinson et
al., 1998) and tourmaline (Kadarusman et al.,
2007). P-T evolution for those rocks showed
five stages of metamorphic phase
(Kadarusman et al., 2007). The early
metamorphic stage (stage I) of the Lok Ulo
eclogites comprises garnet (core) and
omphacite + Ca-Na amphibole + phengite +
rutile + epidote inclusions in the garnet core.
Stage II is characterized by garnet (rims of
porphyroblasts) + omphacite + rutile +
phengite + Ca-Na amphibole. The matrix
constituents, which are similar to those of
stages I and II, are related to stage III (late or
‘peak’ eclogitic stage). The blueschist
overprint of the eclogites occurred during
stage IV. The corresponding assemblage is Na
amphibole + chlorite + albite + epidote +
quartz + titanite + ilmenite. Subsequently,
poikiloblastic tourmaline and apatite grew at
the expense of chlorite, epidote and other
minerals in some eclogites (stage V).
The P-T path of eclogites is characterized by
rising pressures at decreasing temperatures
(stage I to stage III: P=22.5 kbar and T=365
°C), whereas the normal eclogites show rising
temperatures at increasing pressure (stage III:
P=20.5 kbar and T=410 °C). Thus, these
eclogites were subducted to ~70 km depth at a
geothermal gradient of ~6 C/km. Stage IV is
limited to the P-T range of 8-10 kbar and 350-
400 °C for both eclogite types. The different
P-T paths (counterclock-wise and clock-wise)
are explained by metamorphism within a
subduction channel. The low geothermal
gradient is probably due to a high rate of
subduction of a cold oceanic plate.
Eclogites show a clockwise P-T path. Their
blueschist assemblage overprint (retrograde
path) is consistent with P-T estimations on
mineral assemblages from blueschist blocks
and barroisite-bearing calc-silicates. Garnet
amphibolite, greenschist, mica-schist and
granitic gneiss show various low to medium
pressure metamorphic grades. This is
confirmed by P-T estimations showing that
the metamorphic rocks from the Lok Ulo
Accretionary Complex have experienced
different P-T evolutions. As a major
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consequence of this they must have been part
of different plate tectonic settings.
DISSCUSSION ON THE PROTOLITHS
The metamorphic rocks from the Lok Ulo
Accretionary Complex can be assigned to
various protoliths (see Figure 6), in regards to
active and passive continental margins). Our
investigations already show that the
metamorphic rocks have two different kinds
of protoliths and differ in P-T evolution as
well.
The first group (called `oceanic plate
protolith') consists of fine-grained metabasites
with metapelitic intercalations ranging from
greenschist to amphibolite facies. High-
pressure rocks such as eclogite, partially
containing lawsonite and tourmaline, jadeite-
glaucophane schist and blueschist crop out in
a thin zone between the low-grade schists and
a serpentinite zone along Kali Muncar. They
are associated with a succession of
metabasalt, serpentinite, chert and red
limestone as common constituents of an
ophiolite. The ‘oceanic plate protoliths’
concern metabasites with metapelitic
intercalations ranging from greenschists to
amphibolites. The rare HP rocks such as
eclogite, jadeite-glaucophane schist, and
blueschist as well as the succession of
metabasalt, serpentinite, chert and red
limestone as common constituent of an
ophiolite can be related to these protoliths.
The second group (called `continental crustal
protolith') consists of low to high grade
medium pressure metapelites, calc-silicate
rocks, and metagranites (gneisses, quartzites,
marbles, felsic granulites), and minor bimodal
low grade metavolcanic. These rocks are
presumably associated with a monotonous
sequence of metapelites from the chlorite
zone up to the garnet zone exposed in the
northern and eastern part of the
Karangsambung area (e.g. Loning river). The
presence of continental crustal protoliths,
which are now metamorphosed pelitic, calc-
silicate and granitic rocks (gneisses,
quartzites, marbles, felsic granulites)
including minor bimodal metavolcanics
suggest that the metamorphic rock from Lok
Ulo complex are not the simple result of
accretion and subduction-related
metamorphism along the Indo-Australian
oceanic plate (margin of the Sundaland
craton) in the early Cretaceous as previously
thought. The observed presence of rocks of
continental supracrustal parentage can be
explained either by fragmentation of the
accretionary wedge in a melange zone due to
major strike-slip acting in the past or to the
relatively early collision of the Sundaland
margin with continental crust (Australian
plate).
The remaining problem in case of the Lok-
Ulo Complex is why the deeply subducted
eclogites were finally mixed with rocks (e.g.,
dismembered ophiolite) which apparently
have never experienced high pressures. The
exposed rocks rather point to a melange zone
which was located not too deep in the Earth.
Thus, it is likely that rocks of a former
subduction channel environment (those which
were at a specific time relatively close to the
surface) and near surface rocks were
intensively tectonically mixed. This mixing
should have happened at low temperatures in
the presence of hydrous fluids to explain the
estimated maximum temperatures of some
rocks of the melange (T < 400°C) and the
disintegration of the various rock units
(formation of tectonic blocks) and partially
intense retrogression (e.g., along block
surfaces). The reason for the formation of the
melange zone in the Cretaceous is, however, a
matter of speculation. Nevertheless, it is very
likely that the corresponding tectonics
happened along a convergent margin where
oceanic crust was subducted below a
continental plate.
CONCLUSIONS
Various metamorphic rock types are present
in the Lok Ulo Accretionary Complex. Our
investigations show that the metamorphic
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rocks have experienced quite contrasting P-T
evolutions. HP metamorphic rocks (oceanic
plate protoliths) have experienced peak P-T
conditions of 360-400°C close to 20 kbar,
whereas granitic gneisses (continental crustal
protoliths) were metamorphosed at T = 580 -
620 °C and P = 5-6 Kbar. This is confirmed
by P-T estimations showing that the
metamorphic rocks from the Lok Ulo
Accretionary Complex have experienced
different P-T evolutions. As a major
consequence of this they must have been part
of different plate tectonic settings.
REFERENCES
Asikin, S., 1974, The geological evolution of
central Java and vicinity in the light of the
new global tectonics: PhD Thesis,
Bandung Institute of Technology, 256p.
(in Indonesian with English abstract).
Asikin, S., Harsolumakso, A. H., Busono, H.,
and Gafoer, S., 1992, Geologic Map of
Kebumen Quadrangle, Java, scale 1 :
100.000: Geological Research and
Development Centre, Bandung.
Kadarusman, A., Massone, H.J., Permana, H.,
Munasri, 2005, Contrasting protoliths of
Cretaceous metamorphic rocks from the
Luk Ulo accretionary wedge complex of
Central Java, Indonesia, EOS,
Transactions, American Geophysical
Union (abstract).
Kadarusman, A., Massonne, H.J., van
Roermund, H., Permana, H., Munasri,
2007, P-T Evolution of Eclogites and
Blueschists from the Luk Ulo Complex of
Central Java, Indonesia, International
Geological review, Volume 49, Number
4, 329-356.
Ketner, K. B., Kastowo, S., Modjo, C. W.,
Naeser, H. D., Obradovich, K., Robinson,
T., Suptandar, and Wikarno, 1976, Pre-
Eocene rocks of Java, Indonesia: Journal
of Research, United States Geological
Survey, v. 4, p. 605–614.
Maruyama, S., Liou, J. G., and Terabayashi,
M., 1996, Blueschists and Eclogite of the
World and Their Exhumation:
International Geology Review, v. 38, p.
485-594.
Miyazaki, K., Sopaheluwakan, J., Zulkarnain,
I., and Wakita, K., 1998, Jadeite-quartz-
glaucophane rock from Karangsambung,
Central Java, Indonesia and its tectonic
implications: The Island Arc, v. 7, p. 223–
230.
Parkinson, C. D., Miyazaki, K., Wakita, K.,
Barber, A. J., and Carswell, D. A., 1998.
An overview and tectonic synthesis of the
pre-Tertiary very-high pressure
metamorphic and associated rocks of
Java, Sulawesi and Kalimantan,
Indonesia: Island Arc, v.7, p. 184-200.
Suparka, M. E., 1988, Study on petrology and
geochemistry of North Karangsambung
Ophiolite, Luh Ulo, Central Java: PhD
thesis, Institute of Technology in
Bandung, (In Indonesia with English
abstract).
Wakita, K., 2000, Cretaceous accretionary-
collision complexes in central Indonesia:
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, v. 18, p.
739–749.
Wakita, K., Munasri, and Widoyoko, B.,
1991, Nature and age of sedimentary
rocks of the Luk-Ulo Melange Complex
in the Karangsambung area, central Java,
Indonesia: Proceedings of the Silver
Jubilee Symposium, Dynamics of
Subduction and its Products, LIPI,
Yogyakara, p. 64–79.
Wakita K., Munasri and Widoyoko, B., 1994,
Cretaceous radiolarian from the Luk Ulo
melange complex in the Karangsambung
area, Central Java, Indonesia: Journal of
Southeast Asian Earth Sciences, v. 9, p.
29-43.
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Figure 1 Position of Central Indonesia Accretionary-Collision Complex as index map

(upper figure) and Geological Map of Karang Sambung region of Central Java (lower
Figure).
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Figure 2 A series of photographs showing various sedimentary- (plate A), ophiolites- (plate B, G),
metamorphic- (plate C,D,E,F,H) rocks as tectonic block embedded in a black shale matrix (Plate A).
 PROCEEDING PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
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Figure 3. Petrography and Mineral Assemblages Lok Ulo Metamoprhic Complex

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Figure 4. Mineral chemistry of selected metamorphic rocks

Figure 5. P-T estimates for various rocks of the Lok Ulo Metamorphic Rocks. The
underslying petrogenetic grade is based on that by Maruyama et al. (1996). See in the text
further explanation.
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Figure 6. Protolith classification of metamorphic rocks according to Maruyama et al,

(1996) in regards to active and passive continental margins.