Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631

Tertiary evolution of the Eastern Indonesia Collision Complex

T.R. Charlton
Ridge House, 1 St. Omer Ridge, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 2DD, UK
Received 14 January 1999; accepted 6 July 1999

Abstract

Eastern Indonesia is the zone of interaction between three converging megaplates: Eurasia, the Paci®c and Indo-Australia.
The geological basis for interpretations of the Tertiary tectonic evolution of Eastern Indonesia is reviewed, and a series of plate
tectonic reconstructions for this region at 5 million year intervals covering the last 35 million years is presented.
The oldest reconstruction predates the onset of regional collisional deformation. At this time a simple plate con®guration is
interpreted, consisting of the northward-moving Australian continent approaching an approximately E±W oriented, southward-
facing subduction zone extending from the southern margin of the Eurasian continent eastwards into the Paci®c oceanic
domain. Beginning at about 30 Ma the Australian continental margin commenced collision with the subduction zone along its
entire palinspastically-restored northern margin, from Sulawesi in the west to Papua New Guinea in the east. From this time
until ca 24 Ma, the Australian continent indented the former arc trend, with the northward convergence of Australia absorbed
at the palaeo-northern boundary of the Philippine Sea Plate (the present-day Palau-Kyushu Ridge).
At ca 24 Ma the present-day pattern of oblique convergence between the northern margin of Australia and the Philippine Sea
Plate began to develop. At about this time a large portion of the Palaeogene colliding volcanic arc (the future eastern
Philippines) began to detach from the northern continental margin by left-lateral strike slip. From ca 18 Ma oblique southward-
directed subduction commenced at the Maramuni Arc in northern New Guinea. At ca 12 Ma the Sorong Fault Zone strike-slip
system developed, e€ectively separating the Philippines from the Indonesian tectonic domain. The Sorong Fault Zone became
inactive at ca 6 Ma, since which time the tectonics of eastern Indonesia has been dominated by the anticlockwise rotation of the
Bird's Head structural block by some 30±408.
Contemporaneously with post-18 Ma tectonism, the Banda Arc subduction±collision system developed o€ the northwestern
margin of the Australian continent. Convergence between Indo-Australia and Eurasia was accommodated initially by northward
subduction of the Indian Ocean, and subsequently, since ca 8 Ma, by the development of a second phase of arc-continent
collision around the former passive continental margin of NW Australia. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction western Europe or the western United States. It is my

Eastern Indonesia, situated at the intersection of the
Alpine-Himalayan and Circum-Paci®c orogenic belts,
is the location of the Earth's fundamental convergent
triple junction. Long-term interaction of these three
plates (taking the de®nition of plates at the coarsest
scale) has resulted in the present-day situation where a
complex arrangement of platelets with poorly de®ned
plate boundaries cover an area equivalent to most of
E-mail address: charlton@manson.demon.co.uk (T.R. Charlton).
contention, however, that this complexity is only a
relatively recent development, and that back in time,
through the Tertiary, the tectonic situation rapidly
simpli®es, so that by the mid-Palaeogene the fragmen-
ted platelets have resolved themselves into a relatively
simple pattern of coherent plates. Starting from this
simple pre-Neogene con®guration, it is the aim of this
paper to generate the complexity of the present-day by
a few fairly simple changes in regional dynamics, with
these changes largely explicable in terms of plate
boundary interactions taking place within the evolving
eastern Indonesia region.

1367-9120/00/$ - see front matter 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 6 7 - 9 1 2 0 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 4 9 - 8
604 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631

Fig. 1. Regional tectonic setting of the eastern Indonesia collision zone. Inset: approximate convergence vectors for the three main plates Eurasia
(EU), Paci®c (PA) and Indo-Australia (AU). M.S.C.Z.: Molucca Sea collision zone. N.B.B.: North Banda Basin. S.B.B.: South Banda Basin.

The region under consideration comprises the east-
ern half of Indonesia from Sulawesi island in the west
to the Papua New Guinea border in the east (Fig. 1).
Peripheral regions beyond these limits are, quite delib-
erately, only treated in the most general terms. The
reason for this exclusive focus on eastern Indonesia is
that, as will be discussed in the following section, there
is no clear consensus on how the larger region viewed
at a sub-global scale has evolved through the Tertiary.
2. External constraints on the collision model
The Eastern Indonesia Collision Complex involves
the interaction of three or four major plates: Indo-
Australia, Eurasia and the Paci®c (or Caroline and
Philippine Sea) plates. The gross kinematics of these
plates (Fig. 1) provides an important framework
within which to interpret the evolution of this region.
In particular, the relative movements of the two main
continental fragments, Australia and Southeast Asia,
should provide a good constraint on the evolution of
the collision complex. However, this constraint is not
as strong as could be desired because the two conti-
nents form the end-points in a long global plate
motion circuit (Southeast Asia±Eurasia±Africa±Ant-
arctica±Australia), and uncertainties at each stage in
the circuit are compounded in the ®nal result.
It is commonly stated in the literature (e.g. Audley-
Charles et al., 1988; Packham, 1990; Rangin et al.,

Fig. 2. Palaeolatitudinal change for a nominal point on the Australian continent (108S, 1248E, currently located in southern West Timor). The in-
dividual curves are linear interpolations between measured points (the dots) from published palaeogeographic maps. All apart from the Rangin
et al. (1990) curve are measured directly from the position of Timor on the maps; the Rangin et al. (1990) curve is extrapolated from the
southern tip of the Aru Islands (ÿ38). In some of the maps for older time intervals, extrapolation was necessary from another point on the Aus-
tralian Plate as the principal reference point had moved o€ the southern edge of the maps. The two curves from Soeding et al. (1997) are gener-
ated from di€erent reference parameters: the palaeomagnetically-derived curve [PM] is based on the North America reference frame (Harrison
and Lindh 1982); the hotspot [HS] curve uses the Mueller et al. (1993) hotspot reference frame. The grey shaded area is derived from the rotation
poles of Australia relative to Antarctica as calculated by Royer and Sandwell (1989). The lower limit of the shading assumes that Antarctica has
remained latitudinally ®xed, whilst the upper limit assumes that the ridge system south of Australia has remained ®xed. Regions below the `static
Antarctica' curve would require Antarctica to be moving northward towards SE Asia, whilst the region above would require Antarctica to be
moving away from SE Asia. Together these bounds may provide long-term limits on the likely northward movement of Australia. The lower
graph shows the latitudinal uncertainty in km of the eleven map-derived curves at 5 Ma intervals, as given by the di€erence between the highest
and lowest palaeolatitudinal estimate. The dashed line is the same data, but excluding the Dercourt et al. (1991) curve. The palaeolatitudes from
the present study are not shown, but are virtually indistinguishable from the Paleomap curve since 25 Ma.
T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631 605

Fig. 2.
606 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
1990; Hall, 1996) that the position of the Australian
continent through time is reasonably well constrained.
This, however, is not strongly supported by Fig. 2
which shows the palaeolatitude of a point on the Aus-
tralian continental margin (108S, 1248E, currently
located in the Timor collision zone) through the Ter-
tiary, as interpreted by these authors, together with a
number of other published reconstructions. This shows
that interpreted mean rates of northward movement
for Australia during the last 30 Ma vary by a factor of
two from about 40±80 km/m.y. Only ®fteen million
years ago there was as much as 880 km (88) di€erence
in interpreted palaeolatitude between the extremes,
which is close to the present-day north±south spread
of the entire eastern Indonesia collision complex. Even
excluding the Dercourt et al. (1993) track, which is
clearly out of line with the others, only reduces the
uncertainty to ca 700 km at 30 Ma (dashed line in the
lower part of Fig. 2). This allows an uncertainty of up
to ca 9 Ma for the time at which a particular point on
the northern Australian continental margin reached a
particular latitude, given the current `absolute' north-
ward motion of Australia at ca 75 km/m.y. (see
below).
The faster rates in Fig. 2 are associated with models
that utilise a hot spot reference frame, whilst the
models with a slower northward motion use a palaeo-
magnetically-derived reference framework. This is illus-
trated in Fig. 2 by the reconstructions generated in the
Soeding et al. (1997) program, which allows calcu-
lation of continental palaeopositions in both reference
frames. Thus the latitudinal spread in Fig. 2 is princi-
pally a result of the methodology used in determining
the palaeolatitudes (hotspot or palaeomagnetic frame-
works). This explains the spread, but does not remove
the problem for the palaeomagnetically-derived recon-
structions that the rate of northward movement of
Australia has apparently slowed considerably since 10
Ma relative to latitude. Reconstructions in the hotspot
reference framework generally do not show this appar-
ent slowing.
Present-day plate motion calculations suggest rela-
tively high convergence rates between Australia and
Eurasia. The plate motion calculations of Minster and
Jordan (1978), which are determined in the hotspot
reference frame, indicate that the reference point (108S,
1248E) is moving ca 198 east of north at a rate of
about 79.5 km/m.y. (i.e., a northward velocity of ca
75 km/m.y.). In the NUVEL-1A model of de Mets et
al. (1990, 1994) the relative convergence of Australia
with Eurasia is 79.8 km/m.y. bearing 0168 Ð i.e. a
northward velocity of 76.5 km/m.y. assuming Eurasia
to be stationary. These ®gures are at the top of the
range of long-term northward displacements for Aus-
tralia shown in Fig. 2, in line with long-term north-
ward displacements in the hotspot reference frame, but
considerably faster than those constructed in the
palaeomagnetic framework.
The palaeoposition of Southeast Asia is also less
than adequately constrained. Taking Java island as a
representative element of this platelet, there is signi®-
cant disagreement in the published literature as to its
movement history during the Tertiary. Thus Rangin et
al. (1990) and Daly et al. (1991) inferred clockwise and
overall westward displacement of Java through the
Tertiary, whilst Hall (1996) interpreted overall anti-
clockwise and eastward displacement. Similar disagree-
ment is shown in the palaeomagnetic literature with
regard to the larger region, with many authors propos-
ing large anticlockwise rotations of Southeast Asia
during the Tertiary (e.g. Fuller et al., 1991), whilst
others have concluded little or no overall rotation
(Lumadyo et al., 1993). However, it should be added
that most palaeomagnetic studies ®nd only small
changes in latitude for Southeast Asia through the
Tertiary.
In summary, whilst the globally determined palaeo-
continental positions and instantaneous plate motion
calculations provide important external constraints on
the tectonic evolution of eastern Indonesia, they can-
not at present provide more than a very generalised
framework. Tying an evolutionary model too closely
to any particular global or very-large-regional tectonic
model is probably not sensible at this stage because
there is such a wide variation between alternatives.
The model developed here assumes fairly high rela-
tive velocities between Australia and Southeast Asia in
line with the hot spot reference frame, principally
because this seems to ®t best with inferences on the
timing of collision arising from interpretation of east-
ern Indonesia geology. A constant northward velocity
is assumed here for Australia since the Eocene because
most calculations of the motion of Australia based on
hot spot traces (e.g. Duncan, 1981; Wellman, 1983) or
relative to Antarctica (Royer and Sandwell, 1989;
Veevers et al., 1991) do not recognise major changes in
the rate of northward displacement through this
period. In terms of available models, the chosen path
of Australia most closely follows the Paleomap recon-
structions of Scotese and co-workers (see Scotese,
1999).
3. Regional structural elements
Eastern Indonesia forms the zone of interaction
between the Eurasian/Southeast Asian and Australian
continents, and the Paci®c and its sub-plates (the
Philippine Sea and Caroline plates: Fig. 1). In the fol-
lowing two sections the principal structural elements of
this region will be outlined. The main bounding el-
ements are described in this section, followed in Sec-
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631 607

tion 4 by the smaller crustal elements within the col-
lision zone.
3.1. Southeast Asia
In the context of eastern Indonesia, the Southeast
Asian Plate (a sub-element of the Eurasian Plate) con-
sists of the Sundaland continental block and the Cel-
ebes Sea oceanic fragment (Fig. 1). Eastern Sundaland
comprises Java and Borneo islands and the intervening
shelfal Java Sea. To the south, Sundaland is bounded
by the Sunda Arc subduction system. In the southeast
the margin of Sundaland is transitional into the South-
west Sulawesi structural province discussed later. This
transitional region is characterised structurally by
Palaeogene rift grabens inverted by Miocene com-
pression, which has produced a distinctive cross-sec-
tional expression of `Sunda folds' (e.g. Letouzey et al.,
1990). In the eastern Sundaland margin these inversion
structures predominantly trend E±W, but near to Sula-
wesi the trend changes markedly to nearly N±S
(Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Principal structural elements of eastern Sundaland and western Sulawesi, and the main structural lineaments of SE Sulawesi. Adapted
from Letouzey et al. (1990), Kavalieris et al. (1992), Bergman et al. (1996) and Parkinson (1996). Bathymetry at 1000 m intervals.
608 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
Further north the Makassar Straits between Borneo
and Sulawesi probably developed initially from the
same Palaeogene phase of extension recognised on the
eastern Sundaland margin, although the degree of
extension in the Makassar Straits was considerably
greater. The South Makassar Basin (Fig. 3) is thought
to be underlain by continental crust strongly attenu-
ated by Palaeogene extension (Situmorang, 1982),
whilst the North Makassar Basin may be underlain by
Palaeogene oceanic crust, as is found in the Celebes
Sea to the north (Weissel, 1980; Smith et al., 1990).
The eastern and southern margins of the Makassar
Straits and Celebes Sea respectively comprise fold and
thrust belts (described in more detail later) associated
with the Neogene westward displacement of Sulawesi.
Consequently the Makassar Straits additionally possess
some facets of a foreland basin superimposed on the
older rifted margin structure (Bergman et al., 1996).
3.2. Australia
The northern part of the Australian continental
block comprises Australia, the Northwest and Arafura
shelf seas, and the southern half of New Guinea island
(Irian Jaya province of Indonesia and Papua New Gui-
nea: Fig. 1). The boundary between autochthonous
Australian crust essentially undeformed during the
Tertiary and the collision complex to the north is
marked by the Timor-Tanimbar Trough thrust front,
the extensional front of the Aru Trough, the Tarera-
Aiduna strike-slip fault, and the Central Ranges-
Papuan Foldbelt deformation front. Immediately
north of this orogenic front is deformed Australian
crustal material (the parautochthonous zone) and then
crustal elements allochthonous to the Australian mar-
gin. Many parts of the parautochthonous zone are
linked directly to the autochthon to the south, and can
be restored by standard palinspastic techniques where
sucient data is available. The precise point of origin
of other `Australian' crustal elements (e.g. the Bird's
Head and Banggai-Sula crustal fragments to be dis-
cussed below) is more questionable, and some authors
(Pigram and Panggabean, 1984; Pigram and Davies,
1987; Struckmeyer et al., 1993, etc.) have suggested
that these terranes have had long and complex kin-
ematic histories independent of the main Australian
Plate. Detailed discussion of these so-called allochtho-
nous models is beyond the scope of this paper, but in
summary I would suggest that there is no convincing
geological argument that requires an allochthonous
origin for these terranes, and on the contrary their
geological anities strongly support a relatively local
origin. In this paper I suggest that the present struc-
tural isolation of these terranes from autochthonous
Australia is the result of processes acting after initial
collision of a coherent Australian continent with an
island arc system, rather than a pre-collisional disag-
gregation of the Australian margin as implied by the
allochthonous terrane models.
Immediately to the west of the Australian continent
is Mesozoic oceanic crust of the Indian Ocean. The
western continental margin of Australia was formed
by rifting phases in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretac-
eous, with extension directions implied by ocean ¯oor
magnetic lineation patterns oriented between about
WNW±ESE and NW±SE. This oceanic crust is sub-
ducting northward beneath the southern and eastern
Sunda Arc (from southern Sumatra eastwards), whilst
the Australian continental margin is in collision with
the Banda Arc system, which is the direct eastward
extension of the Sunda Arc. Further west still, the
Indian Ocean is underlain by Cenozoic oceanic crust,
which is being subducted at the SW continental margin
of Sundaland beneath most of Sumatra.
3.3. The Paci®c
The northeastern quadrant of this region comprises
the Paci®c ocean crustal domain. The Paci®c Plate
proper is separated from eastern Indonesia by two
smaller plates of essentially oceanic crustal type: the
Philippine Sea and Caroline plates (Fig. 1). The Caro-
line Sea comprises oceanic crust formed between ap-
proximately 34±29 Ma (magnetic anomalies 12-10:
Weissel and Anderson, 1978). Relative motion between
the Caroline and Paci®c plates is currently small, and
the distinction of a separate Caroline Plate at the pre-
sent day is questionable. Whether the Caroline Sea
formed a distinct plate at any time after its formation
is not clear.
The southern part of the Philippine Sea also has
only small motion relative to the Paci®c Plate, but
overall has a very di€erent trajectory, rotating about a
pole close to the northern apex of the plate relative to
Eurasia, and about a pole NE of present-day Halma-
hera relative to the Paci®c (e.g. Ranken et al., 1984;
Seno et al., 1993). The western part of the Philippine
Sea Plate formed in two phases of sea¯oor spreading
during the Palaeogene, whilst the eastern third of the
plate formed in two phases of mid-late Tertiary back-
arc or interarc spreading forward of the Palau-Kyushu
Ridge (e.g. Hilde and Lee, 1984; Mrozowski and
Hayes, 1979). Hall et al. (1995a,b) and Hall (1996)
have suggested that the development of the Philippine
Sea Plate is intimately linked with the evolution of
eastern Indonesia because they interpret the Halma-
hera±Bacan±Waigeo region as an integral part of the
Philippine Sea Plate since the Palaeogene. This in-
terpretation will be discussed in more detail sub-
sequently.
The Caroline and Philippine Sea plates are separated
in the south by the divergent Ayu Trough (Fig. 1).
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
According to Weissel and Anderson (1978), the most
likely interpretation of the Ayu Trough is that it devel-
oped in two phases of sea¯oor spreading: from 12±6
Ma at a relatively high spreading rate (40 km/m.y. full
spreading rate at the southern end of the trough), and
from 6±0 Ma at a slower rate (8 km/m.y.). The open-
ing of this triangular trough accommodated approxi-
mately 208 of relative rotation between the Philippine
Sea and Caroline plates.
3.4. The Philippines
At the present day the Philippine archipelago forms
an obliquely convergent bu€er zone between the Phi-
lippine Sea and Eurasian plates. The main structural
elements are N±S oriented subduction zones east and
west of the archipelago, and a left-lateral wrench sys-
tem (the Philippine Fault) also with a predominantly
N±S orientation. The eastern trench system (the Philip-
pine Trench) and the Philippine Fault are relatively
young features, apparently only having developed in
the last few million years (e.g. Cardwell et al., 1980;
Rangin et al., 1990; Aurelio et al., 1991). However,
geological interpretations indicate that left-lateral
shear may have been active regionally since the Oligo-
cene (Karig et al., 1986), and westward-directed sub-
duction pre-dating that at the Philippine Trench is
recorded in the Wadati-Benio€ zone associated with
the Sangihe Arc, which links Mindanao island in the
southern Philippines with northern Sulawesi. This seis-
mic zone is shown by Cardwell et al. (1980) to extend
as far north as the central Philippines.
Palaeomagnetism indicates that much of the Philip-
pines has been translated northward through the Ter-
tiary. For instance McCabe et al. (1985) suggested that
before the Neogene the entire Philippines region was
located in equatorial latitudes, and was translated
northward in the late Palaeogene or early Neogene.
The regional tectonic model of Rangin et al. (1990)
interpreted a similar northward translation of the Phi-
lippine arc terranes. However, Fuller et al. (1991) have
cautioned that this may be an over-simplication.
Karig et al. (1986) noted the paucity of accretionary
complexes in the Philippines. Most of the archipelago
is composed of non-continental volcanic arc terranes
ranging in age from Cretaceous through to the present
day. In the central Philippines islands of Panay and
Bicol the main arc activity took place between 50±30
Ma, ceasing in early Oligocene times (Rangin et al.,
1990). Ophiolite terranes are locally present (e.g. the
Zambales and Angat Terranes of Luzon: Karig et al.,
1986), but are of lesser importance regionally than
they are in eastern Indonesia. Continental terranes are
found in the west-central part of the Philippines (the
North Palawan Terrane: e.g. McCabe et al., 1985),
and in SW Mindanao in the south of the archipelago
609
(Pubellier et al., 1991). These are usually interpreted as
fragments of the Eurasian continental margin, but it
will be speculatively suggested in the evolutionary
model presented later that the SW Mindanao continen-
tal fragment may have originated from the pre-colli-
sional Australian continental margin.
Most of the complexity of the Philippines island arc
history is beyond the scope of this study. Apart from
SW Mindanao, the outline of which is shown in the
older reconstructions presented subsequently, the
remainder of the arc terranes in the eastern Philip-
pines, from Luzon in the north to eastern Mindanao
in the south, are treated here as a loosely de®ned vol-
canic arc terrane, the East Philippines Terrane.
4. The Eastern Indonesia Collision Complex
4.1. Southwest, west-central and north Sulawesi and the
Sangihe Arc
Southwest Sulawesi has a transitional boundary with
eastern Sundaland, and originated as part of that con-
tinent (Fig. 3). However, palaeomagnetic declination
plots by Panjaitan and Mubroto (1993) suggest that
Southwest Sulawesi has at least locally undergone anti-
clockwise rotations of up to 808 since the Miocene,
with one Pliocene site rotated 708 anticlockwise. This
probably represents local block rotation associated
with the Walanae left-lateral fault system (Fig. 3)
which was active during the Plio-Pleistocene (Berry
and Grady 1987).
The ®rst signi®cant Tertiary structural event recog-
nised in SW Sulawesi is the phase of Palaeogene exten-
sion also widely recognised on the eastern Sunda shelf,
marked by extensional tectonics and arc volcanism,
which, at least locally, commenced as early as the
Palaeocene (Polve et al., 1997). Subsequently, during
the Middle Eocene±Middle Miocene, the western half
of SW Sulawesi (present-day coordinates) formed part
of an extensive eastern Sundaland carbonate platform
(Fig. 3; Wilson and Bosence, 1996). In the eastern half
of the peninsula arc volcanism may have continued
contemporaneously through much of this period (van
Leeuwen, 1981; Priadi et al., 1994). From the Middle
Miocene volcanism was widespread across both halves
of SW Sulawesi, although geochemically this younger
volcanism re¯ects an extensional structural environ-
ment rather than typical island arc conditions
(Yuwono et al., 1988).
Further north in western central Sulawesi, following
the Palaeogene rifting event already outlined in the
south, island arc volcanism was established during
Late Eocene and Oligocene times (Priadi et al., 1994,
Polve et al., 1997). Shoshonitic and high-K igneous ac-
tivity took place from the Middle Miocene or slightly
610 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
earlier through to the Pliocene or Quaternary (18±3
Ma according to Bergman et al., 1996; as young as 0.6
Ma according to Priadi et al., 1994). However R. Hall
(personal communication, 1999) questions the re-
liability and volumetric signi®cance of the earlier part
of this age range, considering the high-K igneous ac-
tivity to be younger than 11 Ma, whilst Polve et al.
(1997) dated the peak of this igneous phase to between
13±10 Ma.
Structurally west-central Sulawesi consists of a west-
ward-directed fold and thrust belt with a thrust front
in the Makassar Straits (Fig. 3; Coeld et al., 1993).
Radiometric dating (Bergman et al., 1996) suggests
that this foldbelt developed between about 13±5 Ma.
An earlier phase of ophiolite obduction on the eastern
margin of this province (Lamasi Complex) is dated at
about 21 Ma.
The north arm of Sulawesi forms a similar volcano-
plutonic belt. The western end of the north arm has a
basement of Sundaland continental crust, whilst the
eastern and central segments of the arm are built upon
oceanic crust (Fig. 3; Kavalieris et al., 1992). The old-
est Tertiary volcanism is of island arc type, and is
dated as Eocene±Oligocene in age. After a volcanic
hiatus with associated tectonism, a second phase of
volcanism is dated between 22±16 Ma (Early Mio-
cene). A third phase of volcanism commenced at about
Fig. 4. Bathymetry/location map of the Banda Sea±Banda Arc region. O€shore bathymetry at 1000 m interval with water depths >4000 m
shaded. H.F.: Hamilton Fault, K.F.: Kioko Fault.
9 Ma, and continues through to the present-day at the
eastern end of the north arm. The latter volcanism is
associated with the active Sangihe Arc to the north,
which is related to westward consumption of the
Molucca Sea Plate. According to Hamilton (1979), the
Sangihe Arc originated in the early Middle Miocene,
and was particularly active through to the Late Mio-
cene.
Palaeomagnetic studies suggest that the north arm
of Sulawesi has undergone approximately 20±258 of
clockwise rotation since the Miocene (Surmont et al.,
1994). This rotation has been accommodated by
underthrusting of Celebes Sea oceanic crust beneath
the north arm of Sulawesi at the North Sulawesi
Trench (Hamilton, 1979; Silver et al., 1983a). The
hangingwall of the North Sulawesi Trench has a fold
and thrust belt structural style (Neben et al., 1998, ®g.
5) comparable to the fold and thrust belt on the east-
ern margin of the Makassar Straits. O€set between the
o€shore North Sulawesi foldbelt and the east Makas-
sar Straits foldbelt is taken up on the Palu-Koro strike
slip fault (Fig. 3).
4.2. Eastern Sunda-Banda Arc
The eastern Sunda Arc is the segment of the arc east
of the main Sundaland continent up to its intersection
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
with the colliding Australian margin at the latitude of
Sumba island (Fig. 4). East of this the feature con-
tinues as the Banda Arc, with direct geological conti-
nuity between the two, particularly in the volcanic arc.
Although the eastern Sunda Arc separates oceanic
crust of the Indian Ocean from oceanic crust of the
southern Banda Sea, the arc itself is, at least in part,
built on a basement of Sundaland continental crust.
This basement is exposed in Sumba (Chamalaun et al.,
1981) and in the allochthonous (overthrust non-Aus-
tralian) sequence of Timor (Earle, 1983; Audley-
Charles, 1985). The arc has a history of igneous ac-
tivity through much of the Tertiary, with arc volcan-
ism recognised in the Palaeocene (Masu Volcanics,
Sumba), Eocene (Metan Volcanics, Timor), Early Oli-
gocene (Kur island, western Kai group: Honthaas et
al., 1997), Early Miocene (Jawila Volcanics, Sumba;
volcanics associated with the Noil Toko Formation in
Timor, e.g. de Waard, 1957; Rosidi et al., 1981),
Middle Miocene (ca 12 Ma in Wetar: Abbott and Cha-
malaun, 1981), Late Miocene (Manamas Volcanics,
Timor: e.g. Bellon, in Linthout et al., 1997) and
younger. Arc volcanism has not been identi®ed during
the Late Oligocene. East of Wetar Island the eastern
Banda volcanic arc is apparently only as old as Late
Miocene or Pliocene (van Bemmelen, 1949; Bowin et
al., 1980), although Kur Island located in the inner-
most part of the Kai forearc complex includes arc vol-
canics of Early Oligocene age (Honthaas et al., 1997).
In the forearc ridge to the south of the present vol-
canic arc, Sumba, located at the transition from ocea-
nic subduction at the Sunda Arc to continental
collision around the Banda Arc, is entirely composed
of non-Australian crustal elements. In Timor and adja-
cent islands, non-Australian crustal material originat-
ing in the pre-collisional forearc complex is thrust onto
the most distal parts of the Australian continental
margin sequence, which is itself strongly imbricated by
thrusting. Further west in the Tanimbar Islands an
allochthonous sequence analogous to that on Timor
and Sumba is volumetrically very reduced or absent;
the imbricated Australian margin succession is by far
predominant (Charlton et al., 1991b). Similarly the
Kai Islands are composed predominantly of Austra-
lian-anity crustal material (Charlton et al., 1991a),
although radiometric dating of igneous and meta-
morphic rocks on Kur Island in the extreme west of
the Kai group suggests an allochthonous origin for
these (Honthaas et al., 1997).
Fortuin et al. (1994, 1997) have identi®ed a phase of
rifting along the axis of the Banda-eastern Sunda vol-
canic arc in the Middle-Late Miocene which led to the
isolation of Sumba and the Timor allochthon from the
volcanic arc, and to the development of the Savu
Basin. Rapid subsidence of the Savu Basin commenced
at about the Early/Middle Miocene boundary (ca 16
611
Ma: Fortuin et al., 1997), approximately contempora-
neously with the main volcanic arc to the north of the
basin becoming inactive (Barberi et al., 1987). For at
least part of the subsequent period (?Middle-Late Mio-
cene), active volcanism was apparently transferred to
the southern margin of the basin (Fortuin et al., 1994).
This period coincides closely with the time of gener-
ation (ca 16±9.5 Ma) and emplacement (ca 8 Ma) of
ultama®c suites in Timor, Seram and possibly interven-
ing parts of the eastern Banda Arc (Linthout et al.,
1997). It will be suggested subsequently that these
events are linked, and are related to Middle-Late Mio-
cene southeastward expansion of the Sunda Arc prior
to Late Miocene collision around the Banda Arc.
4.3. South Banda Basin
The South Banda Basin is a fragment of oceanic
crust situated within the curve of the Banda Arc
(Fig. 4). The age of the crust has been variously inter-
preted as Mesozoic (Lapouille et al., 1985; Lee and
McCabe, 1986), Palaeogene (Barber, 1979) and Neo-
gene (Hamilton, 1979; Hall, 1996; Honthaas et al.,
1997). One of the principal arguments that has been
used in favour of a Mesozoic age is the parallelism
and apparent lateral near-continuity of magnetic
anomalies in the South Banda Basin with the known
Mesozoic anomalies in the Indian Ocean. However,
the apparent continuity is likely to be no more than
coincidental because oceanic crust that formerly lay
north of the Northwest Shelf in the vicinity of present-
day Timor is now represented by the Wadati-Benio€
zone dipping north from the Sunda-Banda Arc.
Restoring this to its pre-collisional position on the
Australian passive margin indicates that the present-
day South Banda Basin cannot have originated closer
to Timor than present-day Sulawesi or Buru, which
greatly reduces the apparent continuity between the
two anomaly sets.
A recent study by Honthaas et al. (1997) strongly
suggests a late Neogene age for the South Banda
Basin, broadly contemporaneous with the North
Banda Basin (see below). Dredging on the northern
¯ank of the basin has yielded fossil-bearing volcani-
clastic sediments and radiometrically dated basalts giv-
ing consistent ages of 7±3 Ma for the volcanism,
interpreted as the age of sea¯oor spreading in the
South Banda Basin.
4.4. Banda ridges
The North and South Banda Basins are separated
by a series of ENE±WSW trending topographic highs
usually described collectively as the Banda Ridges.
Two main en echelon ridges can be recognised: the
Sinta Ridge to the NW and the Lucipara Ridge to the
612 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
SE. Dredge samples from the Lucipara Ridge (Silver et
al., 1985, Honthaas et al., 1997) comprise a mixture of
continental metamorphic and sedimentary rocks,
together with basic volcanics. Two metamorphic rocks
yielded radiometric ages of about 11 and 22 Ma (Silver
et al. 1985). Dredge samples from the Sinta Ridge (Vil-
leneuve et al., 1994) consist of continental margin car-
bonate and clastic sediments including Triassic reef
limestones. Both ridges therefore appear to be com-
posed predominantly of continental crust.
4.5. SE Sulawesi-Buton-Tukangbesi
This region, consisting of the southeast arm of Sula-
wesi together with its topographic extension o€shore
to the southeast, is treated here as a single structural
domain because, contrary to a number of alternative
interpretations (e.g. Smith and Silver, 1991; Davidson,
1991), I will suggest that it has formed a structurally
coherent body throughout the Neogene.
In broad outline, the region consists of a continental
margin terrane of Australian anity overthrust by the
East Sulawesi Ophiolite (to be discussed in more detail
in the following section). In the SE of this region is the
Tukang Besi Platform. Little geological and geophysi-
cal data is available from this area, but gravity values
suggest a continental terrane (Ali et al., 1996), and the
absence of signi®cant sedimentary section imaged on
available seismic data (Ali et al., 1996) suggests that
the Buton foldbelt does not extend onto the platform,
as previously interpreted by Davidson (1991). The
platform is probably a relatively undeformed fragment
of Australian-anity continental crust (Hamilton,
1979).
Westward the platform passes into a Neogene
molassic basin in front of the Buton fold and thrust
belt. The deeper parts of the foldbelt comprise sedi-
mentary sequences with clear stratigraphic anities to
the Banda forearc islands of Buru, Seram and Timor
(e.g. Smit Sibinga, 1928; Davidson, 1991; Smith and
Silver, 1991), which are are in turn widely interpreted
to be composed for the most part of Australian conti-
nental margin sequences. Minor fragments of a for-
merly more extensive ophiolite complex are locally
preserved in the structurally higher levels of the Buton
foldbelt (Smith and Silver, 1991). In SE Sulawesi the
ophiolite complex is more extensive, where it overlies
Australian-anity continental metamorphic basement
in the west, and overlies or is imbricated with Austra-
lian-anity cover sequences towards the east (Surono,
1996).
In Buton the age of collision between the continent
and the ophiolite complex can be dated stratigraphi-
cally as Oligocene, based on the youngest age of the
pre-collisional sequence (Upper Eocene-?Lower Oligo-
cene: Smith and Silver, 1991) and the oldest syn- to
post-orogenic sediments (planktonic foraminiferal
zone N3±N4 or latest Oligocene-earliest Miocene in
the Bulu-1 well: P.T. Robertson Utama Indonesia,
personal communication). Davidson (1991) also men-
tions ages as old as planktonic foraminiferal zone
N3/N4 for the syn- to post-orogenic Tondo For-
mation in South Buton, whilst Surono (1996) dated
molassic sediments in SE Sulawesi to the Early Mio-
cene, and interpreted a latest Oligocene age of col-
lision between the continental terrane and the
ophiolite belt. This is signi®cantly earlier than the
Middle Miocene initiation of collision interpreted by
Smith and Silver (1991).
Southeast Sulawesi and Buton are cut by a number
of large faults striking NW±SE (the Matano, Lasolo
(or Lawanopo), Kolono, Kolaka, Kioko and Hamil-
ton faults: Figs. 3 and 4). The Matano Fault is a
left-lateral strike-slip fault based on geology (Ahmad,
1977) and seismology (McCa€rey and Sutardjo,
1982), and it has been generally assumed that the
other faults have similar strike-slip displacements.
However, most of the other faults do not show the
geological characteristics of large strike-slip faults:
there is for instance no clear braiding of fault
strands, or linked oblique transpressional/transten-
sional folding and faulting. Instead the faults have
been mapped regionally as nearly straight lineaments
with gentle folding subparallel to the fault trend (e.g.
folding of the Tokala and Meluhu formations near
the SE end of the main Lasolo Fault lineament on
the Lasusua±Kendari map sheet: Rusmana et al.,
1993b). These faults have more of the characteristics
of large normal faults. Facies patterns in the Late
Triassic suggest that these major block faults have
existed since at least that time (Charlton, submitted),
and have probably been reactivated several times
since. The relatively young strike-slip o€set on the
Matano Fault may be such a reactivation with a
di€erent sense of displacement.
The SE arm of Sulawesi is separated from the SW
arm by the Gulf of Bone. Seismic sections across the
gulf (e.g. Guntoro, 1996) suggest an extensional ori-
gin for the embayment, and Hamilton (1979) inter-
preted a Middle Miocene age for the commencement
of extension. The end of extension is marked on the
seismic lines by an unconformity separating normal
faulted and gently folded section below from essen-
tially undeformed strata above. At the head of the
gulf in the Malili geological map sheet (Simandjuntak
et al., 1991a) this unconformity can be traced
onshore, where it corresponds to the base of the
Bonebone and Tomata formations. These formations
are dated as latest Miocene-earliest Pliocene (plank-
tonic foraminiferal zones N17±N18) based on the age
ranges of foraminifera listed by Simandjuntak et al.
(1991a).
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
4.6. Central Sulawesi and East Sulawesi-Banggai-Sula
As with the SE Sulawesi-Buton-Tukangbesi struc-
tural domain, East Sulawesi and the Banggai and Sula
islands are here interpreted as having formed an essen-
tially coherent structural block throughout the Neo-
gene. This similarity extends to the general geological
characteristics, with the East Sulawesi Ophiolite thrust
eastwards onto a continental margin terrane of Austra-
lian anity. The East Sulawesi Ophiolite is also thrust
westward onto Sundaland-anity basement in the
Poso region of central Sulawesi. As with SE Sulawesi
and Buton, the age of collision between the continental
terrane and the East Sulwesi Ophiolite has been widely
dated to the Middle Miocene (e.g. Garrard et al.,
1988), but again I will suggest that there is evidence
for an earlier onset of collision in the Oligocene. In the
East Arm of Sulawesi there is also a second phase of
fold and thrust belt development in the Pliocene
(Davies, 1990).
The geological evolution of central Sulawesi has
been studied in detail by Parkinson (1991, 1996, etc.).
The Pompangeo metamorphic complex was interpreted
as Sundaland continental margin basement, perhaps
formed by the accretion of a Gondwanan terrane in
the mid Cretaceous (ca 110 Ma) when initial medium-
high pressure metamorphism developed. During the
Oligocene a second phase of metamorphism developed
under high pressure conditions. Subsequently the East
Sulawesi Ophiolite was obducted onto the Pompangeo
basement complex by westward-directed thrusting.
This obduction may have occurred contemporaneously
with obduction of the Lamasi Complex in southwes-
tern Sulawesi at about 21 Ma (cf. Bergman et al.,
1996).
Separating the base of the East Sulawesi Ophiolite
from the underlying Pompangeo Complex is a tectonic
melange complex, the Peleru Melange. The upper con-
tact of the Peleru Melange Complex with the base of
the ophiolite is overprinted by a metamorphic sole
with an inverted thermal gradient, formed by the
obduction of a hot ultrabasic body onto cooler crustal
material. Parkinson interpeted the Oligocene phase of
deformation in central Sulawesi as the result of obduc-
tion of young and hot backarc oceanic crust onto the
Sundaland margin prior to collision with the Banggai
Platform in the Middle Miocene. However, several el-
ements of the sub-ophiolite tectonic complex upon
which the inverted metamorphic gradient is over-
printed (speci®cally, the Nanaka, Tetambahu and
probably the Matano Broken Formations of the Peleru
Melange Complex) show stratigraphic anities with
the ``Australian'' sequence of the Banggai Platform. As
the metamorphic sole separating the Peleru Melange
Complex from the structurally overlying East Sulawesi
Ophiolite has been dated radiometrically at about 31
613
Ma (Parkinson, 1996), the Banggai Platform must
have arrived by (or at) that time. This Oligocene age
of suturing between western (Sundaland-anity) and
eastern (Australian-anity) Sulawesi is consistent with
the stratigraphically-derived Oligocene age for the
ophiolite-continent collision in Buton and SE Sulawesi.
The origin of the East Sulawesi Ophiolite and indeed
ophiolites in general is not well understood. Geochem-
istry suggests an origin in a supra-subduction zone set-
ting, possibly related to the backarc Celebes Sea
(Monnier et al., 1995; also Bergman et al., 1996),
which suggests linkage with the Asian/Paci®c plate
margins. On the other hand, palaeomagnetic studies of
Cretaceous or Palaeogene lavas from the east arm of
Sulawesi indicate a relatively high southerly latitude
(ca 208S), possibly not far north of the Australian con-
tinent at that time (Mubroto et al., 1994). Whatever
the precise origin of the East Sulawesi Ophiolite, there
is a common association regionally between ophiolite
complexes and subduction forearcs. In the reconstruc-
tions presented later the East Sulawesi Ophiolite is
treated as part of an oceanic forearc complex paired
with the Palaeogene volcanic arc terranes of western
Sulawesi.
The East Sulawesi Ophiolite is separated from the
Banggai-Sula continental fragment by the Tomori
Basin (Davies, 1990; Handiwiria, 1990; Abimanyu,
1990). The basinal succession comprises a lower
sequence of shelf carbonates and clastics ranging in
age from Upper Eocene±Upper Miocene, succeeded by
thick molassic sequences of Pliocene±Recent age.
There is no direct evidence for major collision-related
structural development before the Pliocene, and pre-
sumably this region lay some distance in front of the
ophiolite-continent collision front during the Oligo-
Miocene period. The present fold and thrust belt struc-
ture on the western ¯ank of the Tomori Basin only
developed during the Pliocene (between 5.2±2.8 Ma
according to Davies, 1990).
The Banggai-Sula continental fragment (Pigram et
al., 1985; Garrard et al., 1988) has long been recog-
nised as stratigraphically related to the continental
part of New Guinea island, and hence to the Austra-
lian continent (e.g. KlompeÂ, 1954; Visser and Hermes,
1962). These latter authors suggested stratigraphic
similarity with the Bird's Head structural block of wes-
tern New Guinea, whilst Pigram et al. (1985) argued
for a more distant origin, adjacent to central Papua
New Guinea. Elsewhere (Charlton, 1996) I have
reviewed the evidence which leads me to favour a con-
nection with the Bird's Head block.
The east arm of Sulawesi is separated from the
north arm by the Gulf of Tomini (Fig. 5). An exten-
sional origin for this gulf, as with the Gulf of Bone,
separating the SE and SW arms of Sulawesi can be
inferred, e.g. from regional seismic lines and gravity
614 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
Fig. 5. Bathymetry/location map of northeastern Indonesia. O€shore bathymetry at 1000 m interval with water depths >4000 m shaded.
modelling (Silver et al., 1983a). A possible indication
of a Middle Miocene or earlier onset of extension is
given by the Middle Miocene (and younger) Bongka
Formation (Poso map sheet: Simandjuntak et al.,
1991b), which is a deepwater turbiditic sequence
unconformably overlying the central Sulawesi collision
complex. Again latest Miocene±earliest Pliocene for-
mations that unconformably overlie older strata (e.g.
the Lonsio and Kintom formations of the Luwuk map
sheet: Rusmana et al., 1993a) may mark the cessation
of extension in the gulf.
4.7. Seram and Buru
Seram Island has been described as a mirror image
across the Banda Sea of Timor in the south (Audley-
Charles et al., 1979). It consists of a northward-di-
rected fold and thrust belt forming the forearc complex
of the northern Banda Arc. However, unlike Timor
but like Tanimbar and Kai, there is no major `Asian'
allochthon within the Seram collision complex. [N.B.
this interpretation is in contrast to the original in-
terpretation of Audley-Charles et al. (1979) who
inferred an allochthonous origin for a major part of
the Seram succession based on similarities with the
Timor allochthon as then recognised, particularly with
the Maubisse Formation of Timor. An Australian and
therefore parautochthonous origin for the Maubisse
Formation is now widely accepted (e.g. Audley-Charles
and Harris, 1990), and the necessity for an extensive
allochthon in Seram is negated]. As with Tanimbar
and the eastern Banda Arc, the volcanic arc in the hin-
terland of Seram (Ambon and adjacent islands) is
essentially Pliocene and younger in age.
Buru Island is also usually considered to be one of
the islands in the Banda forearc chain. However,
although there is close stratigraphic similarity between
Seram and Buru, the two islands show very di€erent
structural styles. Whilst Seram consists of an imbricate
stack of thrust sheets, Buru has a relatively simple
anticlinorial structure with the principal fold axis fol-
lowing the long axis of the island. It is likely that the
Buru anticlinorium marks a westward dying out of
Banda forearc deformation, and thus the island forms
a pin-point termination for this convergent system.
Seram and Buru islands are separated by a small tri-
angular marine embayment (Fig. 5) which I interpret
as a triangular pull-apart structure (sphenochasm).
This structure o€sets the Pliocene volcanic island of
Ambelau south of Buru from the Ambon group south
of Seram, which suggests that it opened during Late
Pliocene±Recent times. This sphenochasm is inter-
preted in the later reconstructions to have accommo-
dated 458 of late-stage clockwise rotation between
Buru and western Seram.
4.8. Bird's Head-Misool and the Sorong Fault Zone
The Bird's Head-Misool block south of the Sor-
ong Fault and west of the Ransiki Fault (Fig. 5)
forms an essentially coherent and little deformed
structural domain of Australian continental anity.
The region has strong stratigraphic links both to
cratonic and parautochthonous southern New Gui-
nea to the east (Dow and Sukamto, 1986) and to
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
the Banda Arc region to the southwest. There is
thus no strong reason to suspect on stratigraphic
grounds that the Bird's Head structural block is
allochthonous, as has been proposed by Pigram and
co-workers (see above). Neither is there any strong
stratigraphic or structural evidence to support the
contention (Pigram and Panggabean, 1984; Pigram
and Davies, 1987) that Misool together with the
Onin and Kumawa peninsulas of the Bird's Head
formed a separate terrane independent of the main
Bird's Head block prior to the Oligocene. On the
contrary, seismic data (e.g. Perkins and Livsey,
1993, Fig. 2) strongly suggests simple tectonostrati-
graphic continuity from the Misool-Onin-Kumawa
Ridge into the main part of the Bird's Head block
before the inversion that formed the ridge in the
Pliocene, the inversion being related to the colli-
sional development of the northern Banda Arc.
The Bird's Head block was a€ected by an important
phase of deformation during the Oligocene, most nota-
bly giving rise to the NW±SE trending Central Bird's
Head (Vogelkop) Monocline (Visser and Hermes,
1962). Resultant uplift and erosion of the Kemum
basement block to the north of the monocline led to
the shedding of an extensive clastic sequence (the Sirga
Formation of Late Oligocene±Early Miocene age)
around the margins of this structural high. A series of
en echelon NW±SE ridges, probably reverse faulted
inversion structures cogenetic with the Central Bird's
Head Monocline, also developed across the northern
Bintuni Basin (the Inanwatan, Puragi and Ayot Ridges
of Fraser et al., 1993); also the Wasian and Mogoi
Ridges further east. A contemporaneous Oligocene
structural event is also recognised in Misool Island
where Late Oligocene±Early Miocene section uncon-
formably overlies gently deformed Eocene±Oligocene
and older strata (Pigram et al., 1982a).
Palaeomagnetic studies on the Bird's Head-Misool
region are relatively sparse. In Misool, Thrupp et al.
(1987) reported 338 and Wensink et al. (1989) ca 408
of anticlockwise rotation relative to Australia since the
Late Cretaceous. In the northern Bird's Head Giddings
et al. (1993) suggested a three-stage rotation history
involving anticlockwise rotation of 558 about a local
pole in the later Mesozoic or early Palaeogene, fol-
lowed by a ca 208 anticlockwise rotation about a dis-
tant pole (equivalent to ca 2000 km of ESE±WSW
lateral translation) in the mid Tertiary, and a ®nal 108
anticlockwise rotation in the late Neogene. However,
considering the uncertainties of the Australian polar
wander curve (e.g. Klootwijk, 1996), this can only be
considered one interpretation of the data.
The Bird's Head structural block is bounded to the
north by the Sorong Fault, which is part of a major
left-lateral fault system that extends eastwards through
northern New Guinea and westwards as far as Sula-
615
wesi (the Sorong Fault Zone in the sense of Hall and
others). The age of initial movement on the Sorong
system has been variously estimated between Oligocene
and mid Pliocene, with most estimates placing the
main phase of movement in the mid Miocene±Pliocene
(see Charlton, 1996). A minimum displacement of
about 850 km can be inferred for the main fault strand
south of the Banggai-Sula structural block based on
relocation of the Tomori Basin in eastern Sulawesi
north of the Salawati Basin in the northern Bird's
Head (Charlton, 1996). Movement on any other fault
strands such as those widely inferred through the
Bacan-Halmahera region would be additional to this.
4.9. North Banda Basin
The North Banda oceanic basin separates the Bang-
gai-Sula block to the north from Buru in the east, the
Sinta Ridge in the south, and SE Sulawesi in the west.
Dredge sampling in the basin (ReÂhault et al., 1994;
Honthaas et al., 1997) has yielded basalts with a back-
arc basin geochemical signature, dated radiometrically
between 11.4 2 1.15 Ma and 7.33 2 0.18 Ma (5
samples). As this small oceanic basin is bounded to the
north by the main strand of the Sorong Fault Zone
and the age of basin formation apparently coincides
with the age of activity on the wrench fault system, it
is likely that the two structures are genetically linked,
with the North Banda Basin accommodating a trans-
tensional component in the Sorong strike-slip system.
A partial present-day analogue for the connection
between the Sorong Fault Zone and the North Banda
Basin might be the linkage between the Andaman Sea
spreading centre and the Sumatra Fault strike-slip sys-
tem in western Indonesia.
The western margin of the North Banda Basin is a
young thrust zone (the Tolo Thrust: Silver et al.,
1983b). The foreland loading of this thrust belt onto
the oceanic crust of the North Banda Basin has been
suggested as an explanation for the anomalous bathy-
metric depth of the basin (ReÂhault et al., 1994).
4.10. Cenderawasih Bay-Aru Trough
Cenderawasih Bay is a triangular embayment separ-
ating the Bird's Head structural block from the main
`body' of New Guinea (Figs. 1 and 5). The embayment
is bounded to the north by the Yapen Fault (part of
the Sorong-North New Guinea strike-slip system), to
the west by the Lengguru Foldbelt, and to the east by
the Waipoga (sometimes Waipona) Pliocene sedimen-
tary basin. In the south, Cenderawasih Bay is separ-
ated from the Aru Trough by the Bird's Neck isthmus,
which is the location of the active left-lateral Tarera-
Aiduna Fault system. Like Cenderawasih Bay, the Aru
Trough is a triangular feature bounded by the Tarera-
616 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631

dated some 30±408 of anticlockwise rotation of the

Bird's Head block relative to Australia (Fig. 6). This
rotation postdates the formation of the Lengguru
Sorong Fault Foldbelt, which developed primarily during the Late
(a) Approx. 5Ma Jobi Fault
Miocene (Pigram et al., 1982b; Dow and Robinson,
1985). The opening of Cenderawasih Bay is also
Rombebai
marked in Yapen Island by a reversal in the sense of
Fault o€set on the wrench fault system (from left-lateral to
right-lateral), with the reversal dated as Early Pliocene.

4.11. Northern east Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea

Motion of Pacific
relative to Australia
Northernmost east Irian Jaya comprises a number
of relatively small Palaeogene volcanic arc terranes
with, to the south of these, an extensive ophiolite com-
Northern Bird's Head
effectively attached to
plex, the Irian Jaya Ophiolite Belt. These together are
Pacific plate (Ina
ctiv
e)
presumed to represent a large part of the volcanic arc±
Yapen-
Biak block
forearc pair that collided with Australia in mid Ter-
(b) Approx. 3Ma (In
ac
tiary times. The Palaeogene volcanic arc system of
tiv
e)
eastern Irian Jaya can be traced eastward through
northern Papua New Guinea (the Bewani, Toricelli,
Southern Bird's Head
effectively attached to
Cenderawasih Bay
sphenochasm
Prince Alexander and Adelbert blocks, and the Finis-
Australia terre terrane of the Huon peninsula), and into the
Initial pole
of rotation New Britain and Solomon arcs, whilst the ophiolitic
forearc is represented in Papua New Guinea by the
April, Marum and Papuan ophiolites. To the west,
comparable volcanic arc terranes can be traced
Motion of Pacific
relative to Australia Collapse of Yapen-Biak
c.128km/m.y. block into the Cenderawasih
Bay sphenochasm through Biak and Yapen islands north of Cenderawa-
sih Bay, the Arfak Terrane on the eastern edge of the
(Inactive)

Ransiki
Bird's Head, the Tosem Terrane in the northernmost
Fault
(Inactive?)
Bird's Head, and to Batanta and western Halmahera,
whilst predominantly ophiolitic terranes are found in
eastern Halmahera and Waigeo.
Initial arc±continent collision in northern Irian Jaya
Bird's Head 30-40°
anticlockwise rotation and Papua New Guinea has been widely interpreted as
relative to Australia (c) Present day Oligocene in age (Dow, 1977; Pieters et al., 1983;
Pigram et al., 1989; Pigram and Symonds, 1991;
Tarera-Aiduna Fault
Davies et al., 1996, etc.), contemporaneous with the
Bird's Head-Australia pole of net
rotation approx. 4.9°S, 133.9°E
Aru Trough
sphenochasm
collision in Sulawesi and Buton already described, and
with the structural event in the Bird's Head and Mis-
Kai islands ool. As in the Sulawesi belt, however, other workers
‘Instantaneous’
Aru islands
have suggested younger ages for collision in Papua
rotation pole
New Guinea: for instance late Early Miocene (Francis,
1990) and Middle Miocene (Carman, 1993), whilst Hill
et al. (1993) have interpreted the Oligo-Miocene struc-
Fig. 6. Schematic evolution of western New Guinea through the tures as developing above a southward-directed sub-
opening of Cenderawasih Bay and the Aru Trough as triangular
pull-aparts (sphenochasms). From Charlton (1999).
duction zone, with arc±arc collision delayed until the
Late Miocene±Pliocene. Detailed discussion of these
alternative interpretations of Papua New Guinea is
beyond the scope of this paper, but with reference to
Aiduna Fault to the north, the western margin of the the latter interpretation, it is perhaps signi®cant that
Arafura Shelf to the east, and the Kai Islands struc- the Late Miocene±Pliocene colliding arc (the Finis-
tural block to the west. terre±Adelbert Arc) largely comprises a Palaeogene
Elsewhere (Charlton, 1999) I have interpreted Cen- volcanic arc terrane without a corresponding forearc
derawasih Bay and the Aru Trough as triangular pull- complex, but it parallels the ophiolite belt which might
apart structures (sphenochasms) that have accommo- be interpreted as the remnants of such a forearc com-
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
plex without a corresponding volcanic arc. Another
possible interpretation of the Adelbert±Finisterre Arc,
as shown in the reconstructions presented later, is that
it originated as the volcanic arc counterpart of the
ophiolite forearc complex which collided with the
northern margin of Australia in the Oligocene; that
the volcanic arc was subsequently split away from the
forearc±collision complex to the south by opening of
the (poorly dated) Solomon Sea by oceanic spreading
in the mid Miocene; and that the volcanic arc was sub-
sequently re-attached to the continent by excision of
the Solomon Sea at the opposing New Britain Trench
and Trobriand Trough subduction zones between the
Pliocene and the present day.
In Papua New Guinea an igneous complex named
the Maramuni Arc (Dow, 1977) has been dated to
between about 18±12 Ma, and age equivalents can be
found locally in Irian Jaya (e.g. the Moon Volcanics
of the northern Bird's Head, and the Utawa Diorite of
the Bird's Neck: Pieters et al., 1983). The Maramuni
Arc has a calcalkaline geochemical signature, and is
widely interpreted as marking a phase of southward-
directed subduction at the New Guinea Trench. Sub-
sequent volcanism in both Papua New Guinea and
eastern Irian Jaya has a post-orogenic geochemical sig-
nature, comparable to the contemporaneous shoshoni-
tic and high-K post-collisional igneous suites of
western Sulawesi.
A second phase of major tectonism commenced in
Irian Jaya during the Middle Miocene (e.g. McDowell
et al., 1996) with the development of the Central
Ranges-Lengguru orogenic belt. The Central Ranges
include large regions dominated structurally by base-
ment-involved high-angle reverse faulting and by left-
lateral wrench faulting (Visser and Hermes, 1962;
Abers and McCa€rey, 1988; Kendrick et al., 1995),
with thin-skinned fold and thrust belt styles of defor-
mation of lesser signi®cance, e.g. in the relatively
narrow frontal ranges. The Lengguru Foldbelt, in con-
trast, is predominantly thin-skinned, with a northern
pinpoint against the Kemum basement block, perhaps
analogous to the interpreted termination of the Banda
foldbelt in Seram and Buru. The present-day separ-
ation of the Lengguru Foldbelt from the Central
Ranges is likely to be a consequence of the Pliocene±
Recent opening of Cenderawasih Bay.
It is a notable feature of the New Guinea collision
complex that it is dominated by deformed continental
margin sequences and the structurally overlying pre-
collisional forearc complex, now represented by ophio-
litic terranes. In comparison, terranes representing the
pre-collisional volcanic arc are volumetrically relatively
minor. This contrasts with the Philippines archipelago
where volcanic arc terranes predominate, and forearc
terranes are relatively scarce.
617
4.12. Halmahera-Bacan-Waigeo-Obi
The Palaeogene of Halmahera, Bacan and Waigeo
consists of an intraoceanic volcanic arc complex in the
west (Bacan and western Halmahera) and an ophiolite-
sedimentary province in the east (eastern Halmahera
and Waigeo). The volcanic arc and ophiolitic com-
plexes have, according to palaeomagnetic data,
together formed an essentially coherent structural
domain throughout the Neogene (Hall et al., 1995a,b;
see further discussion below).
In Bacan Island two Palaeogene arc terrains (North
and South Bacan) are separated by a continental base-
ment block (the Sibela Mountains) which is structu-
rally overlain by ophiolitic material. The island arc
and continental basement blocks are in steep (normal?)
faulted contact (e.g. Malaihollo and Hall, 1996). A
continental signature is recognised in young volcanic
rocks from southern Bacan, suggesting that continental
crust extends beneath this area (Morris et al., 1983).
This continental signature is also recognised from Late
Miocene volcanics in southern Bacan and Early Mio-
cene intrusives in northern Bacan (Malaihollo and
Hall, 1996), suggesting that continental crust has
underlain Bacan since at least the Early Miocene. This
juxtaposition of oceanic island arc with presumed Aus-
tralian continental crust is therefore likely to have
occurred during the Oligocene, as in New Guinea and
Sulawesi.
Obi Island to the south of Bacan is broadly compar-
able to Bacan in having a continental basement inlier
surrounded by ophiolitic sequences and island arc vol-
canics. In the south of Obi the non-continental units
are probably thrust southward onto Australian-anity
cover sequences which can be correlated with similar
(Jurassic) rocks in the adjacent Sula islands.
On top of the Palaeogene arc complex in western
Halmahera, Bacan and Obi is developed a second
igneous sequence ranging in age from about 20 Ma
through to the present (Baker and Malaihollo, 1996).
These authors subdivided the sequence into a `pre-arc'
suite dated between about 20±9 Ma which may be of
post-collisional origin (cf. Sulawesi and New Guinea),
and an island arc sequence dated from about 12 Ma
through to the present. A possible additional break in
the arc sequence is recognised at about 3±4 Ma, at
which time the locus of arc activity shifted about
50 km to the west. The present-day arc is associated
with the eastward subduction of the Molucca Sea
beneath Halmahera.
The basement of eastern Halmahera is a Palaeogene
ophiolitic complex (Hall et al., 1988a; Ballantyne,
1990) which was uplifted and eroded in the late
Palaeogene after volcanic activity had ceased in the
Eocene. Carbonate platform conditions were estab-
lished across eastern Halmahera during the mid-late
618 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
Oligocene and Miocene (Hall et al., 1988b). A similar
history is interpreted for Waigeo, where the late
Palaeogene uplift event is associated with strong defor-
mation (Charlton et al., 1991c).
A second phase of deformation is recognised during
the Pliocene in both Halmahera and Waigeo. In Hal-
mahera a westward-directed fold and thrust belt devel-
oped between the western and eastern halves of the
island (Hall et al., 1988b). This thrusting may be con-
nected with the westward shift in the locus of igneous
activity at about 3±4 Ma (Baker and Malaihollo,
1996). In Waigeo large-scale folding is associated with
left-lateral wrench faulting (Charlton et al., 1991c).
As already mentioned, palaeomagnetism indicates
that the Halmahera±Bacan±Waigeo region has acted
as a coherent structural domain throughout the Neo-
gene (Hall et al., 1995a,b). These authors have further
suggested that since the Palaeogene the Halmahera
domain has formed an integral part of the Philippine
Sea Plate, and in the plate reconstructions of Hall
(1996) this interpretation forms a primary constraint
on the kinematics of the Philippine Sea Plate. How-
ever, although this interpretation may be permissible
on palaeomagnetic grounds, it is dicult to reconcile
with the post-Oligocene regional geology, particularly
with the geology of New Guinea during this time.
Hall's reconstructions suggest that Halmahera collided
with the northern margin of Australia in the region of
present-day eastern Papua New Guinea during the
Late Oligocene, and since that time has moved pro-
gressively westward along the northern margin of New
Guinea. The constraint of assuming that the Halma-
hera block has also remained an integral part of the
Philippine Sea Plate since the Palaeogene implies that
the Halmahera±New Guinea plate boundary should
have been purely transcurrent through the Neogene; it
is not possible to invoke an obliquely convergent plate
boundary because the Oligocene arc±continent col-
lision precludes the existence of subductable oceanic
crust to the south of Halmahera. Such a purely trans-
current plate boundary is, however, inconsistent with
the presence of the calcalkaline Maramuni Arc in New
Guinea which developed during the Early-Middle Mio-
cene, contemporaneously with the supposed east to
west passage of Halmahera north of New Guinea.
Even if the Maramuni Arc developed in the wake of
Halmahera's westward passage, as suggested by Hall
(1997), only very limited and highly oblique subduc-
tion would be permitted which would not be likely to
generate the volume of magma associated with the
Maramuni Arc. Additionally, a clear east to west dia-
chrony in the onset of the arc would be expected, evi-
dence for which does not appear to have been
reported in the literature. This suggests to me that it is
unlikely that the Halmahera structural domain has
formed a coherent fragment of the Philippine Sea Plate
since the Palaeogene as interpreted by Hall et al.
(1995a,b).
4.13. Molucca Sea
The Molucca Sea marks the zone of collision
between the young eastward-subducting Halmahera
Arc and the westward-subducting Sangihe Arc
(McCa€rey et al., 1980; McCa€rey, 1991). The
Wadati-Benio€ seismic zone associated with the San-
gihe Arc extends to a depth of at least 600 km, whilst
the eastward-dipping slab beneath Halmahera reaches
only to about 230 km (Cardwell et al., 1980). The San-
gihe forearc has overridden the northern end of the
Halmahera arc, and is beginning to overthrust western
Halmahera (Hall, 1997). The Molucca Sea collision
complex is also being backthrust westwards onto the
Sangihe volcanic arc (Hamilton 1979).
5. The development of the Eastern Indonesia collision
complex
5.1. Palaeocene-Early Oligocene pre-collisional setting
In the following palaeotectonic reconstructions, the
interpreted structure of the northern Australian conti-
nental margin with the inferred pre-collisional disposi-
tion of Australian-anity displaced terranes is the
result of a detailed palaeogeographic evolutionary
study of this region (Charlton, submitted; work in pro-
gress; Robertson Research, 1999). It is broadly in line
with a number of other reconstructions published pre-
viously (e.g. Audley-Charles, 1976; Audley-Charles et
al., 1988; Daly et al., 1991; Dercourt et al., 1993). The
constructions are compatible with Tertiary palaeomag-
netic latitudinal data from Sumba (Wensink, 1994;
Wensink and van Bergen, 1995; Fortuin et al., 1997),
Timor (Wensink and Hartosukohardjo, 1990), Buton
10 Age (Ma)
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0
Latitude (°)
Hall
(199
-10
6)
This s
tudy
-20
-30
Fig. 7. Palaeomagnetically-derived palaeolatitudes from the Halma-
hera region (Hall et al., 1995b) with palaeolatitudes derived from the
present interpretation (full line) and, for comparison, those derived
from Hall's (1996) reconstructions (dotted line). In both cases the
reference point for the curves is the intersection of the present
equator with the west coast of Halmahera Island.
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
(Ali et al., 1996), Sulawesi (Panjaitan and Mubroto,
1993; Surmont et al., 1994), Kelang (Haile, 1978) and
the Halmahera region (Hall et al., 1995b; Fig. 7).
However, compared with the Halmahera regional
declination data (Hall et al., 1995b, ®g. 8a) there is a
consistent over-estimation for the rotation of Halma-
hera by about 208. A possible explanation of this is
that the present N±S elongation of Halmahera is re-
lated to the Plio-Quaternary Halmahera arc, and the
older Tertiary arc may have had a slightly di€erent
orientation, not elongated as shown in the (necessarily
schematic) reconstructions.
The main geographic features of this reconstruction
(Fig. 8) are a large continental promontory (for brevity
here described as the Greater Sula Spur, following
KlompeÂ, 1954) which includes present-day eastern/
southeastern Sulawesi, Banggai-Sula, Buton, Buru,
Seram and the Bird's Head. Continental basement in
Fig. 8. Palaeotectonic reconstruction of the eastern Indonesia region at 35 Ma.
619
the Greater Sula Spur extends considerably further
north than in equivalent areas to the east (cf. Pigram
and Davies, 1987, etc.). This is interpreted to be a con-
sequence of right-lateral displacement of the Greater
Sula Spur relative to the main body of northern Aus-
tralia during breakup of Gondwana in the Permian-
Triassic (Charlton, submitted).
By the early Tertiary the Greater Sula Spur was sep-
arated from present-day Timor and the southern
Banda Arc by an oceanic embayment (the `Proto-
Banda Sea' in Fig. 8) which developed as a result of
Mesozoic sea¯oor spreading (Charlton, submitted). It
should be noted, however, that this Proto-Banda Sea
is only indirectly related to the present-day South
Banda Basin in that both occupy locations between
Timor and Seram. It is not implied that the present-
day South Banda Basin is composed of Mesozoic ocea-
nic crust.
620 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
The Sundaland block in the reconstructions is essen-
tially that of the present-day; the details of possible
Neogene rotation and/or internal deformation within
Sundaland are not considered in this study. The pre-
sent-day eastern Sunda/Banda Arc is initially shown
restored against the SE Sundaland margin. In the
older reconstructions the arc is shown with a schematic
50% lateral shortening to compensate for lateral exten-
sion interpreted during the later stages of collision, as
will be described in more detail subsequently.
The third main element of the reconstructions is an
intra-oceanic island arc system including the future
western and northern Sulawesi and Halmahera arc ter-
ranes of eastern Indonesia. Arc terranes that end up in
present-day Papua New Guinea and the Philippines
are also shown, although the various crustal blocks of
the present-day eastern Philippines are not shown indi-
vidually.
An interpretation of the regional plate setting at 35
Ma (Early Oligocene) immediately before the onset of
collision is shown in Fig. 8. During the Palaeogene the
western half of northern Australia (the region that
subsequently formed the eastern Indonesia collision
complex) was evidently a structurally quiescent conti-
nental margin, as indicated by the absence of anything
other than passive margin sedimentary sequences (pre-
dominantly carbonates). It is possible that arc-conti-
nent interactions were already taking place during the
Eocene±Early Oligocene in the eastern sector of the
northern Australian margin (the future Papua New
Guinea), as indicated by the interpreted age of ophio-
lite obduction in the Papuan Peninsula (e.g. Davies et
al., 1996). However, this is not strongly supported by
the unpublished palaeogeographic reconstructions car-
ried out as part of this study (Robertson Research,
1999).
During the Palaeocene±Eocene, the Sunda Shelf was
the site of graben development, interpreted here as re-
lated to the western Sulawesi island arc rifting away
from the eastern margin of Sundaland. Other Palaeo-
gene island arc terranes of northern east Indonesia
(Halmahera, Batanta, Arfak, Biak, Yapen, etc.)
together with comparable island arc terranes now
found in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, are
interpreted to have formed part of a roughly east±west
intraoceanic island arc system located at the plate
boundary between the Philippine Sea Plate to the
north and oceanic crust of the northern Indo-Austra-
lian Plate to the south. This east±west plate boundary
linked directly westwards with the forerunner of the
present-day Sunda Arc. Palaeogene island arc
sequences of the present-day Banda Arc at this time
still formed part of the Sundaland continental margin,
as indicated by the occurrence in the Timor allochthon
of a Late Eocene land mammal Anthracothema verhoe-
veni (von Koenigswald, 1967), which apparently inhab-
ited plains and marshes in the neighbourhood of great
rivers.
5.2. Oligocene collision
The northern passive margin of Australia began to
collide with the island arc system to the north during
the Oligocene (Fig. 9). Indications of this collision are
found from Buton and central Sulawesi in the west,
through the Bird's Head and Bacan-Obi region, to
northern Papua New Guinea and as far east as the
Papuan Peninsula. Stratigraphic or radiometric resol-
ution does not at this stage permit any interpretation
of the synchrony or otherwise of this collision; at pre-
sent available evidence points to collision in approxi-
mately mid-late Oligocene times along the entire length
of the reconstructed northern Australian margin.
It is not the intention of this paper to extend the in-
terpretation much beyond the limits of present-day
eastern Indonesia, but Fig. 10 suggests a possible inte-
gration of the arc±continent collision with the evol-
ution of the Philippine Sea Plate. The palaeoposition
of the Philippine Sea Plate at 30 Ma is taken from
Fuller et al. (1991). The Palau-Kyushu Ridge on the
northern margin of the reconstructed Philippine Sea
Plate formed as a volcanic arc between 44±29 Ma
(Hickey-Vargas, 1991); that is, contemporaneously
with the Sulawesi±Halmahera-northern Papua New
Guinea arc on the reconstructed southern margin of
the plate. Taken together with the sea¯oor spreading
history of the Philippine Sea (two phases of spreading
from approximately 65±45 Ma and 45±35 Ma: Hilde
and Lee, 1984), this may suggest that the Philippine
Sea Plate originated in the Palaeogene as a backarc
basin which developed from an initial east Eurasian
continental margin setting (accounting for the Palaeo-
gene rifting on the Sundaland margin) to a strongly
arcuate island arc system. Fig. 10 also shows the
palaeolocation of the Caroline Sea crustal fragment
assuming that this has since moved as part of the Paci-
®c Plate. If this is the case, then the sea¯oor spreading
in the Caroline Sea (which took place between ca 34±
29 Ma: Weissel and Anderson, 1978) was probably a
response to some undocumented regional plate reorga-
nisation following initial arc±continent collision on the
northern margin of Australia. Alternatively, however,
the Caroline Sea may have developed within the east-
ern part of the Philippine Sea Plate as a direct re-
sponse to collision on the southern margin of the
plate. This alternative interpretation ®ts nicely with the
age of sea¯oor spreading in the Philippine Sea and
Caroline basins as spreading in the Philippine Sea
apparently ended synchronously with the onset of
spreading in the Caroline Sea.
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
Fig. 9. Reconstruction at 30 Ma.
5.3. Post-collisional indentation
The ®rst phase of post-collisional deformation in the
eastern Indonesia region from ca 30±24 Ma was
characterised by indentation of the former arc trend,
and was accompanied only by relatively limited defor-
mation (Fig. 11). In the present-day Halmahera sector
of the colliding arc, which impinged upon Australian
New Guinea immediately east of the relatively rigid
Bird's Head structural block, arc±continent conver-
gence continued slightly longer, as indicated by the
somewhat younger end-collisional ages obtained from
this region (ca 22 Ma) compared with other parts of
the collision complex (Hall et al., 1995a). During this
period of indentation the arc±continent collision zone
probably no longer formed a well-de®ned plate bound-
ary, but occupied a position perhaps analogous to pre-
sent-day Italy which is not located on a clearly de®ned
plate boundary but nevertheless remains tectonically
621
and volcanically active. Northern Australia e€ectively
became welded to the Philippine Sea Plate during this
interval, and continuing northward movement of Aus-
tralia was absorbed at the northern (palaeo-coordi-
nates) margin of the Philippine Sea, whilst the
westward convergence of the Paci®c Plate was taken
up at the eastern boundary of the plate.
Relative displacement between Australia and Sunda-
land was accommodated during this interval and sub-
sequently by the commencement of anticlockwise
rotation in SW Sulawesi (Figs. 11 and 12), possibly as-
sociated with greater or lesser rotation of Sundaland.
5.4. Post-collisional disaggregation by left-lateral shear
At about 24 Ma the Philippine Sea Plate probably
began to take on something like its present-day kin-
ematics, with a major component of strike slip motion
relative to northern Australia (Fig. 12). The change in
 622
T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631

Fig. 10. Possible regional reconstruction at 30 Ma based on the positioning of the Philippine Sea Plate by Fuller et al. (1991).
T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631 623

Fig. 11. Reconstruction at 25 Ma.

Fig. 12. Reconstruction at 20 Ma.

624 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631

Fig. 13. Reconstruction at 15 Ma.

Fig. 14. Reconstruction at 10 Ma.

 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
regional dynamics may have resulted from collision
between the Ontong Java oceanic plateau and the
Solomon Arc, which commenced at about 22 Ma
(Kroenke et al., 1986).
In northern New Guinea a transcurrent plate
boundary is interpreted to have developed between the
pre-collisional volcanic arc and its counterpart forearc/
collision complex to the south, resulting in much of
the Palaeogene volcanic arc that originally lay north of
the present-day New Guinea collision complex being
translated northwestwards towards the present-day
Philippines. The translation of the East Philippines
Terrane is not detailed in this study, but for the pur-
poses of the reconstructions it is rotated at a rate of
1.758/m.y. clockwise about a pole located at latitude
138N, longitude 1808. This rotation rate lies within the
spread of recent estimates for the present rotation rate
of the Philippine Sea Plate relative to Eurasia (1.09±
1.958/m.y.: Hall et al., 1995c, table 5) and within the
spread of long-term palaeomagnetic declination
changes for the Philippine Sea Plate (Fuller et al.,
1991, ®g. 7b). For comparison, Hall et al. (1995c)
interpreted a rotation pole at 158N, 1608E and a ro-
tation rate of 1.78/m.y. between 25 and 5 Ma.
During the interval ca 18±12 Ma the motion of the
Paci®c relative to Australia was taken up by reversed
(southward) subduction beneath eastern and central
New Guinea (generating the Maramuni volcanic arc),
and this arc±forearc system linked northwestwards
Fig. 15. Reconstruction at 5 Ma.
625
into the proto-Philippines Fault strike slip system.
West of the proto-Philippine wrench fault, induced
transtension in the future gulfs of Bone and Tomini
resulted in limited westward translation of western
Sulawesi relative to the Greater Sula Spur block
(Fig. 13). Linkage between North Sulawesi and Mind-
anao was maintained during this period by the devel-
opment of the Sangihe Arc, which subsequently
absorbed convergence between the Philippine Sea Plate
and eastern Eurasia.
From about 15 Ma it is suggested that the poorly
dated Solomon Sea began to open as a transtensional
backarc basin in response to the oblique convergence
between northern Australia and the Philippine Sea
Plate (Figs. 13 and 14). This ocean basin developed
along the line of weakness separating the Papuan
Peninsula forearc collision complex from the Palaeo-
gene arc terranes to the north (New Britain). A new
volcanic arc may have developed north of New Britain
(the shaded area shown in Figs. 13±15); this is the line
of the future Bismarck Sea spreading centre (see
below).
Commencing at about 12 Ma a new wrench system,
the Sorong Fault Zone, began to develop, e€ectively
separating the future Philippines from eastern Indone-
sia (Fig. 14). This appears to be part of a major plate
boundary reorganisation at this time, also seen for
instance in the development of the Ayu Trough
spreading centre. A new wrench fault probably devel-
626 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
oped to the south of Halmahera, and translated this
and related terranes (Waigeo, Batanta, Yapen, etc.)
westward around the northern edge of the Bird's Head
structural block. It is suggested that displacement on
the north New Guinea wrench system was not fully
transferred onto the Sorong system, but that some
motion was absorbed by local deformation in the junc-
tion region. This local deformation was expressed as a
bowing at the northern end of the northern New Gui-
nea thrust front (Figs. 14 and 15), which produced the
opposing arc that was eventually to collide with the
southern Sangihe Arc, resulting in the development of
the present-day Molucca Sea Collision Zone.
The establishment of the Sorong Fault Zone had the
e€ect of detaching several continental terranes (SE
Sulawesi-Buton-Tukangbesi and E Sulawesi-Banggai-
Sula), together with their pre-collisional island arc
counterparts (SW and North Sulawesi), from the
northern margin of Australia, and translating them
westward to collide with the eastern margin of Eurasia
(Fig. 14). As a result of this translation, SW Sulawesi
was forced into an increasingly N±S orientation by
anticlockwise rotation about a pole near the junction
of the peninsula with the Sundaland margin. This ro-
tation was accommodated by the development of the
foreland fold and thrust belt on the eastern margin of
the Makassar Straits. Similarly, the north arm of Sula-
wesi was forced into a more E±W orientation by
clockwise rotation about a pole near its junction with
the Sangihe Arc, the rotation being accommodated by
underthrusting of the Celebes Sea at the North Sula-
wesi Trench. Transtension associated with the develop-
ment of the Sorong Fault Zone was accommodated by
`backarc' spreading in the North Banda Basin, and by
continued extension in the gulfs of Bone and Tomini.
At about the same time (i.e. approximately mid-
Miocene), the Sunda Arc moved suciently far south-
ward relative to Australia to pass beyond the Greater
Sula Spur continental promontory, and to come oppo-
site the Proto-Banda Sea oceanic embayment (Figs. 13
and 14). The eastern end of the Sunda Arc was no
longer constrained laterally by the continental frag-
ment, and commenced a rapid southeastward expan-
sion, eventually subducting the entire Proto-Banda
Sea, and as a consequence colliding with the southern,
eastern and northern margins of the embayment. This
expansion of the eastern Sunda and future Banda Arc
was accommodated by backarc spreading in the South
Banda Basin, and by a contemporaneous forward
jump of the volcanic arc, producing a somewhat
anomalous interarc basin, the present-day Savu Basin
(cf. Fortuin et al., 1994, 1997). The Sunda/Banda arc
subduction front encountered the continental margin
at about the same time (ca 8 Ma: Linthout et al.,
1997) in both Seram and Timor (Fig. 15), e€ectively
pinning the arc at two points, and possibly halting
subduction temporarily until additional compression
caused by anticlockwise rotation of the Bird's Head
structural block (see below) induced north-south short-
ening across the Banda Sea. This shortening was
accommodated by the development of the Pliocene
eastern Banda Arc sector between Timor and Seram,
which rapidly migrated eastward before colliding with
the continental margin in the present-day Tanimbar
and Kai islands.
5.5. Rotation of the Bird's Head
During latest Miocene±earliest Pliocene times (ca 6±
4 Ma), a ®nal reorganisation of plate boundaries led
to the establishment of present-day plate kinematics in
this region. This ®nal change in plate dynamics is
marked by the cessation of movement on the main
strands of the Sorong Fault Zone, and the cessation of
extension in the North Banda Basin and gulfs of Bone
and Tomini. The present Molucca Sea arc±arc col-
lision zone probably also began to develop at this
time. Regionally this plate reorganisation is marked by
the establishment of the present motion of the Philip-
pine Sea Plate at about 3±5 Ma (e.g. Hall et al.,
1995b), and by the presumably associated slowing in
the rate of spreading in the Ayu Trough (Weissel and
Anderson, 1978). A further response to this change
was the development of the Bismarck Sea spreading
centre northeast of Papua New Guinea at ca 3.5 Ma
(Taylor, 1977; perhaps ca 4.5 Ma on more recent dat-
ing of the magnetic polarity timescale, e.g. Hilgen,
1991; de Mets et al., 1994).
In Yapen Island north of Cenderawasih Bay this
event is marked by a reversal in the sense of o€set on
wrench faults from left-lateral to right-lateral (Charl-
ton, 1999). This dramatic change in local kinematics is
itself interpreted as a response to extensional opening
of Cenderawasih Bay to the south as a triangular sphe-
nochasm, and the resulting anticlockwise rotation of
the Bird's Head by some 30±408 since the Early Plio-
cene (Fig. 6). The likely driving mechanism for the ro-
tation of the Bird's Head is that following cessation of
movement on the Sorong strike-slip system the north-
ern Bird's Head e€ectively became attached to the
Caroline/Paci®c Plate, whilst the southern part of the
Bird's Head remained essentially attached to Australia.
As has already been mentioned, this rotation of the
Bird's Head was accommodated by compression across
the Banda Arc to the south, with the compression lar-
gely relieved by the eastward extrusion of a new arc
segment between Timor and Seram.
Whilst the Bird's Head was rotating anticlockwise
during the Pliocene, Halmahera to the north was rotat-
ing in the opposite sense. Hall et al. (1995a,b) have
interpreted this rotation as a continuation of long-term
clockwise rotation of the entire Philippine Sea Plate.
 T.R. Charlton / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 603±631
Alternatively I suggest that the rotation of Halmahera
is principally the result of a point indentation at the
junction between the Halmahera and Bird's Head ter-
ranes (i.e. the eastern end of the Sorong Fault Zone).
Shortly after the 5 Ma reconstruction, the northern
end of the Halmahera block (the Snellius Ridge) col-
lided with the trench outboard of the Sangihe Arc,
causing a cessation of subduction at that point. At
about the same time, thickened oceanic or former
intraoceanic arc crust underlying the western margin
of the Ayu Trough (the Tobi Ridge: Fig. 5) was
impinging upon the eastern ¯ank of the Halmahera
block and the northern margin of the Bird's Head.
The interaction of this less readily subducted crustal
block with the junction of the Eurasian and Australian
plate margins caused Halmahera to rotate clockwise
about a pole near the northern end of the Snellius
Ridge, whilst the Bird's Head rotated clockwise about
a pole in the Bird's Neck region. This inferred late-
stage pivoting of the Halmahera terrane may explain
the Plio-Quaternary jump in the locus of the Halma-
hera volcanic arc.
6. Conclusions
The aim of this paper has been to generate the struc-
tural complexity of present-day eastern Indonesia from
a simple pre-collisional plate con®guration invoking
only a few regionally signi®cant changes in plate
dynamics. Starting from the simple pre-collisional
Palaeogene plate con®guration shown in Fig. 8, I
suggest that the complexity of the present day can be
generated by the following:
1. Arc±continent collision along the entire recon-
structed northern margin of Australia commencing
at ca 30 Ma.
2. A phase of post-collisional indentation of the for-
mer arc trend (ca 30±24 Ma) during which Australia
e€ectively became welded to the Philippine Sea
Plate, and during which the continuing northward
motion of Australia was absorbed outside the east-
ern Indonesia region by subduction at the palaeo-
northern boundary of the Philippine Sea Plate.
3. Commencement of the present-day regime of obli-
que convergence between northern Australia and
the Paci®c Plate, initially (from ca 24 Ma) taken up
on a new wrench fault system (the proto-Philippine
Fault), and subsequently (ca 18±12 Ma) by south-
ward subduction at the Maramuni Arc in northern
New Guinea.
4. Development of the Sorong Fault Zone wrench sys-
tem and the linked oceanic spreading in the North
Banda Basin (ca 12±6 Ma).
5. Development of the present-day regional dynamics
627
(from ca 6 Ma), marked particularly by the cessa-
tion of motion on the Sorong Fault Zone, and by
commencement of anticlockwise rotation in the
Bird's Head.
6. The Banda arc±continent collision system developed
largely independently of the above from about 8
Ma, following the initiation of the Banda-eastern
Sunda subduction system in the Early Miocene.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful for constructive review comments by
Tony Barber, Robert Hall, Chris Pigram and Claude
Rangin.
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