Downloaded from [Link]

org/ at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

Gravity anomalies and deep structural controls at the

Sabah-Palawan margin, South China Sea

J O H N M I L S O M 1, R O B E R T H O L T l, D Z A Z A L I B I N A Y U B 2 & R O S S S M A I L 3'4

1Birkbeck/UCL Research School of Geological Sciences, London WC1E 6BT, UK

2 Geological Survey of Malaysia, Beg Berkunci 2042, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
East Malaysia
3 Nigel Press Associates, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 6HS, UK
4 Present Address." BHP Minerals International Exploration Inc., London W6 7AN, UK

Abstract: The hydrocarbon-rich southeastern margin of the South China Sea is divided by
NW-SE lineaments into a series of sharply contrasting segments distinguished by, among
other things, abrupt changes in gravity patterns. The Sabah segment is bounded to the SW
by the Tinjar or West Baram line and to the NE by the Balabac line at the southwest margin
of the Sulu Sea. The most prominent gravitational feature of this segment is the strong free-
air gravity low associated with the Sabah Trough which lies about 150 km offshore. Seismic
reflection data suggest that loading by prograding sediments and gravity driven thrust sheets
has depressed the extended continental crust of the South China Sea below its level of local
isostatic compensation, producing the trough as a foreland basin in which sedimentation has
failed to keep pace with subsidence. The load masses themselves, supported in part by the
rigidity of the underlying crust and lithosphere, are above their levels of local compensation
and deep Neogene sedimentary basins lie on the flanks of Bouguer and free-air gravity highs.
Gravity values decrease across the Sabah coast so that the Crocker Ranges, including Mt
Kinabalu, rest in rough isostatic equilibrium on presumably weaker lithosphere. The free-air
gravity anomaly associated with the Sabah Trough is smaller than would have been
predicted from the thickness of the water column, suggesting crustal thinning beneath the
trough axis. This is not a characteristic of normal foreland basins and can therefore be
assumed to predate basin formation. It can be concluded that the NE-SW trending belts of
parallel gravity anomaly and geomorphology, of which the Sabah Trough is the most
obvious, have been controlled by the pre-existing fabric of the crust and lithosphere of the
South China Sea since they are discordant to the Palaeogene geological trends in Sabah.
Reconstructions of the Tertiary history of the Sabah segment can be based on this
assumption, which also suggests that sediments deposited in rift basins formed during the
Palaeogene break-up of the South China margin were the source for much, if not all, of the
hydrocarbon reserves of the area.

The southeastern margin of the South China Sea almost equally thick crust of the Luconia Plat-
(Fig. 1) consists of a complex suture zone which form (Hutchison 1989). The Luconia block may
can be divided into three sharply defined also have been derived from the South China
segments distinguished by differences in bathy- margin but little is known about its basement
metry and in the associated gravity fields. These geology. The possible suture with Borneo is
differences reflect differences in the thicknesses concealed beneath the Balingian Fold and
and compositions of the crustal units on either Thrust Belt.
side of the suture. In the northern (Palawan) The central, Sabah, segment, which contains
section, oceanic and island arc elements from the most of the known hydrocarbon resources and
Sulu Sea margin have been thrust over con- which is the focus of this study, is bounded in the
tinental crust derived from southern China NE by the Balabac Line or Sabah Shear (which
(Durkee 1993). This South China crust has continues the trend of the Sulu Sea coast of
been variably but generally very largely extended Sabah into the South China Sea), and in the SW
and attenuated (Holloway 1982; Kudrass et al. by the Tinjar or West Baram line. Its extent is
1986; Briais et al. 1993); positive elements, such defined most obviously by the presence offshore
as Reed Bank and the islands, shoals and banks of the NE-SW-trending Sabah Trough, which is
of the Spratly Islands region (Hinz & SchlOter associated with a free-air gravity low. Outboard
1985) mark the presence of blocks of locally of the trough, the South China Sea is underlain
thicker crust. In the southern (Sarawak) seg- by extended continental crust, as in the Palawan
ment, the thick crust of Borneo abuts against the segment, but onshore the similarities of the

From Fraser, A. J., Matthews, S. J. & Murphy, R. W. (eds), 1997, Petroleum Geologyof Southeast Asia,
Geological Society Special Publication No. 126, pp. 417-427.
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

418 J. MILSOM ET AL.

Fig. 1. Segmentation of the southeastern margin of the South China Sea, showing the locations of the Sarawak,
Sabah and Palawan segments. Bathymetry taken from the digital version of the General Bathymetric Chart of the
Oceans (GEBCO). Light stipple shows area in the South China Sea which is underlain by Late Oligocene - Early
Miocene oceanic crust. Horizontal lines show the region of the Sabah Trough with water depths in excess
of 2.5 km.

Sabah segment are with Sarawak; Sabah is Geology

underlain by thick crust of unknown composi-
tion and the geology of its western part is Geological s u m m a r y
dominated by a thick wedge of Palaeogene
sediments similar to those which outcrop over The published literature on the Palaeogene
much of Sarawak. Within the segment, the South geology of N W Borneo is a testimony to the
China Sea and Borneo domains interact over a complexity of the deformation, the paucity of
wide zone of thrust propagation and sediment biostratigraphic control, the poor quality of
progradation of which the Sabah Trough marks the available outcrops and the logistic difficulties
the northwestern limit (Hinz et al. 1989; Hazeb- of mapping. New road building is reducing
roek & Tan 1993). the importance of these last two factors but the
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

GRAVITY AND STRUCTURE WEST OF SABAH 419

scarcity of dateable fossils still poses enormous Crocker Formation which may be a Rajang
interpretational problems (cf. Tongkul 1991). Group equivalent (Hutchison 1996).
Some of the correlations which have been made In western Sabah and on the adjacent shelf,
between outcrops may be incorrect while some the geology can be described in terms of a
of the multitude of named formations may be succession of belts of sediments which become
direct equivalents or facies variants of forma- progressively younger and less deformed towards
tions assigned different names in other areas. the northwest (Fig. 2). The oldest, Palaeogene
Particular problems are caused by differences in and Lower Miocene, sediments have proved
the terminologies applied in Sabah, Sarawak difficult to map in detail but can be loosely
and Indonesian Kalimantan. There seems to be assigned to a composite Rajang-Crocker group
general agreement on a few points only, one of which is generally quartz-arenaceous and com-
which is that there was a major event, marked by monly turbiditic. Their distribution and history
unconformity, deformation and the formation have been summarised by B6nard et al. (1990) on
of melange, in the Mid- or Late Eocene. Beneath the basis of photogeological interpretation with
the unconformity, the Rajang Group sediments some ground control. Complex deformation and
(Embaluh Group in Indonesia) have been lack of clear marker horizons have contributed
isoclinally folded with dips generally of between to the difficulty of identifying the unconformity
80 and 90 ~ and have been locally metamor- associated with the Sarawak orogeny, although.
phosed to lower greenschist facies (Hutchison Hutchison (1996) has re-emphasised the distinc-
1996). The break between these and the younger, tion which should be drawn between the older
less deformed and unmetamorphosed Crocker Rajang and younger Crocker groups. Although
Group sediments has been taken as identifying the sediments of the two groups were deposited
a 'Sarawak orogeny' but in Sabah the situa- respectively before and after the period of strong
tion is complicated by the existence of an East tectonic uplift associated with the orogeny, both

Fig. 2. Geology of NW Borneo, simplified and modified after Hazebroek & Tan (1993). O-UM, Oligocene-Upper
Miocene 'Inboard Belt'; UM-P, Upper Miocene-Pliocene 'Outboard Belt'; LT, Lower Tertiary thrust sheet.
Igneous rocks are indicated by black shading.
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

420 J. MILSOM ET AL.

have been widely regarded as constituting trench anticlines separated by wide synclines (O-UM in
fills and accretionary complexes associated with Fig. 2). Farther to the north, hydrocarbons are
subduction beneath Borneo of a 'proto South reservoired in deep synclinal Late Miocene to
China Sea' which has now been completely Pliocene basins (the Outboard Belt, UM-P in
consumed (cf. Hamilton 1979). Fig. 2) developed upon thrust sheets of a fold
In Sabah the top of the Crocker group is and thrust belt (here termed the Kinabalu Fold
marked by a major disconformity at the Early and Thrust Belt) which involves Palaeogene and
Miocene-Mid-Miocene boundary. Younger sedi- Early Neogene sediments. These older rocks (LT
ments have generally not been extensively in Fig. 2) form a ridge which separates the
deformed, although there is a further important Outboard Belt from the Sabah Trough but are
break at the close of the Mid-Miocene. The uplift generally concealed beneath a thin cover of
which gave rise to the present-day Crocker Range younger, gently deformed sediments. As in the
is even younger and may be correlated with Baram Delta, the ultimate driving force for the
cooling ages of between 6 and 7 Ma obtained thrusting is probably gravitational, the impetus
from granitic rocks of the Kinabalu massif in this case being provided by the uplift of the
(Rangin et al. 1990). The episodic nature of the Crocker Range. Rapid deposition of sediments
Late Neogene uplift is documented offshore by within the overlying basins evidently led to
the presence of several unconformity surfaces overpressuring since clay diapirism is common
lying between major sequence boundaries known along the western margin of the Outboard Belt
as the Deep and Shallow Regional Unconformi- (Hazebroek & Tan 1993).
ties, dated to 15 Ma (Mid-Miocene) and 9Ma
(Late Miocene) respectively (cf. Hazebroek &
Tan 1993). The name 'Sabah Orogeny', which has Regional tectonics
been suggested for this phase of tectonism
(Hutchison 1996), implies a rather local regime, Hamilton (1979) not only suggested a subduction
but inversion seems to have been widespread zone setting for Rajang-Crocker deposition but
during this period throughout the South China also identified the Sabah Trough as the site of the
Sea and its margins. subduction trench. However, seismic reflection
sections clearly show that the attenuated con-
tinental crust which underlies the adjacent parts
Petroleum geology o f Sabah of the South China Sea extends beneath the
trough and its landward margin (Hinz et al. 1989;
Published geological maps of western Sabah and Hazebroek & Tan 1993) and the difference in
its shelf region show the Rajang-Crocker belt trend between the supposed Palaeogene accre-
trending N to NNE and cutting across the tionary prism (Rajang-Crocker group) and the
coastline (Fig. 2; cf. Hazebroek & Tan 1993). As supposed Palaeogene trench (Sabah Trough) can
a consequence, the environment of the offshore also be cited as an argument against the
oilfields changes from SW to NE. The char- subduction hypothesis. It has also been claimed
acteristics of the various hydrocarbon-bearing that, although vigorous volcanism would be
zones have been plentifully illustrated by seismic expected at an active margin, there was no
sections published by Shell and by the German volcanic activity at the time of Rajang-Crocker
BGR in conjunction with Petronas (Bol & Van sedimentation (Hazebroek & Tan 1993).
Hoorn 1980; Hinz et al. 1989; Hazebroek & Tan The objections certainly have force as far as the
1993) and also by marine institutes of the Sabah Trough is concerned but subduction
Chinese People's Republic (cf. Xia & Zhou provides a very plausible setting for the deposi-
1993). Off southern Sabah the fields are asso- tion and subsequent deformation of the very
ciated with the prograding Baram Delta, which thick Rajang-Crocker sediments. Moreover,
has built out from the flank of the Palaeogene Rangin et al. (1990) have reported dates on
belt in the angle formed between the belt and the volcanic rocks in eastern Sabah which appear to
Luconia Platform. Seismic images of the Baram define two distinct volcanic episodes separated by
region show a classic delta system with thrusting a hiatus in the Early and Middle Miocene; the
confined to the toe of the sediment wedge where Oligocene volcanics might mark the northeastern
gravity-driven listric extensional faults break end of the belt of Oligocene 'Sintang' igneous
through to the sea floor. activity that has been identified in Kalimantan
Immediately east of the deltaic wedge, there (Moss et al. this volume) and which might have
are oil fields in the Oligocene to Upper Miocene been associated with subduction of a 'proto-
sediments of the 'Inboard Belt', a structurally South China Sea'. The distance between the
complex zone characterised by tight, broken volcanic outcrops and the Rajang-Crocker belt is
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

GRAVITY AND STRUCTURE WEST OF SABAH 421

well within the range for observed gaps between because the separations between adjacent satel-
modern arcs and their associated trenches. It is lite tracks have been of the order of 100 km and
only necessary to suppose that the original trench features of geological interest have been very
axis lay a significant distance landward of the poorly resolved. Along the eastern margin of the
present trough to preserve both the essential South China Sea the satellite-derived data were
elements of Hamilton's (1979) hypothesis and until recently sufficient only to demonstrate the
compatability with more recent geological and very obvious division into Sarawak, Sabah and
geophysical observations. Palawan segments and quite inadequate for use
in any form of quantitative analysis.
Early in 1995 the quality of satellite-derived
gravity data improved dramatically with the
Gravity release of the results of the first 168-day mission
Satellite gravity data of the ERS-1 satellite, on which adjacent tracks
were separated, even at the equator, by no more
Free-air gravity values calculated from satellite than 10 km. The free-air data from this mission
measurents of sea surface elevations have been have been combined in Fig. 3 with high-quality
available for more than a decade. However, the shipborne gravity data from the B G R 1986
maps produced of equatorial regions have E X P L O R A cruise, with almost no need for
generally been decorative rather than practical, adjustment of either data set.

Fig. 3. Gravity field of the Sabah segment, NW Borneo. Free-air gravity contours offshore are based on gravity
measurements made along track lines (continuous straight lines) on the 1986 EXPLORA cruisee (Hinz pers.
comm. 1995) and altimeter measurements obtained during the first ERS-1 168-day mission. Bouguer gravity
contours onshore are based on preliminary data from a 1995 survey by the University of London and the
Geological Survey of Malaysia. Line AA shows the location of the gravity profile modelled in Fig. 5. Heavy
stipple shows land areas and light stipple the region in the Sabah Trough with water depths of more than 2500 m.
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

422 J. MILSOM ET AL.

Sabah segment gravity and geomorphology

It is also, of course, possible to link satellite and
shipborne data to data obtained onshore by
conventional means. The gravity map of the
Sabah segment produced by combining data
recently acquired in the Crocker Ranges and
farther east with the marine data (Fig. 3) is
dominated by a series of parallel linear features
with NE-SW trends, of which the most extensive
is the free-air gravity low associated with the
Sabah Trough. To the east of the trough there is
a gravity ridge which overlaps in part the area
where Miocene basins are associated with major
hydrocarbon production. Short-wavelength
highs and lows between this feature and the
coast are not well resolved by the ERS- 1 data but
inland there is a third major NE-SW-trending
feature in the form of a deep Bouguer gravity low
coinciding almost precisely with the steep and Fig. 4. Simple model of the structure of a foreland
rugged Crocker Range which culminates in the basin. (a) distribution of main geological units.
northeast in Mt Kinabalu, at 4100m the highest (b) distribution of main mass deficits and excesses. The
mountain in SE Asia. upper dashed line in (a) represents the equilibrium
The Crocker Range is one of three significant level for the sea floor corresponding to the standard
geomorphological features which share the Moho level indicated by the lower dashed line. The
gravitational NE-SW trend, the other two positions of these lines correspond in this example to
being the Sab~h Trough and the South China attenuated continental crust, as found beneath much
of the South China Sea.
Sea coastline of Sabah. Coincidence in trend
between gravitational and topographic features
is hardly surprising, especially where, as in the
of the surface and Moho of the fexed litho-
case of the Crocker Range, there is a significant
sphere on the far side of the basin. Mass deficits
isostatic control on the gravity field. There is,
are concentrated in the vicinity of the foreland
however, a small but significant discordance
basin, being represented by the water column,
between the gravitational/topographic trend in
the sediment infill and also by the depression of
the Crocker Range and the geological trends,
the Moho beneath the basin. The Moho is
and Mt Kinabalu is a large granitic pluton which
depressed still more deeply in the region beneath
is geologically unrelated to the rocks to the
the load but the resulting mass deficit in that
southwest.
region cannot completely balance the impressed
load; if it did, i.e. if local isostasy applied, there
would be no reason for a flexural basin to form.
Mass balance in foreland basins
Northwest directed mass transport in both the The Sabah Trough
Baram delta region and the Kinabalu Fold and
Thrust Belt implies loading of South China Sea Qualitatively, the free-air gravity pattern across
lithosphere and hence the possibility that the the Sabah Trough is as predicted by the foreland
Sabah Trough developed as a foreland basin. basin model. There is a high over the loads
Such basins can occur wherever the lithosphere represented by the Baram Delta and the thrust
supports near-surface loads by elastic bending sheets, a low along the Sabah Trough and a
instead of by local isostatic depression of the second high in the Spratly Islands region beyond,
Moho and are inevitably associated with gravity with a peak over Ardasier Bank. However,
anomalies. Simple models (Fig. 4) involve only quantitative modelling based on the 2D models
an impressed load (e.g. a fold and thrust belt or appropriate for an area which displays such
a prograding delta), an elastically bent slab and strong linearity has shown that there are
a resulting basin which may be partly or differences between the expected and observed
completely infiUed with sediment. Mass excesses fields. These can be illustrated by comparing the
giving rise to positive gravity effects are repre- profile recorded along Line 14 of the BGR
sented by the load and also by an upward bulge EXPLORA cruise (Fig. 5a, Curve A) with the
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

GRAVITY AND STRUCTURE WEST OF SABAH 423

Fig. 5. Gravity models of the Sabah Trough. (a) Free-air gravity profile (Curve A), together with the curves
computed for a flat Moho and a sea floor topography of density 2.2 Mg m -3 (Curve B) and for the model shown
in the two views below (Curve C). Ca) Close up of the near surface part of the two-dimensional density model
producing curve C vertical exaggeration 5 : 1. (e) Two-dimensional density model for the Sabah Trough which
produces Curve C showing elevation of the Moho. No vertical exaggeration.

free-air profile which would have been produced between the total amplitudes of the observed
had gravity been controlled simply by variations and calculated trough anomalies. Agreement
in the depth of the sea floor. A model in which can be restored only by having a more elevated
the water layer was assigned a density of Moho, and hence thinner crust, beneath the
- 1 . 1 7 Mg m -3 (equivalent to using the very low trough than beneath the Spratly Rise, as shown
density of 2.2 Mg m -3 for the material making up in Fig. 5c.
the trough walls) produced the good match in The model illustrated in Fig. 5b and c is still a
amplitude shown by Curve B in Fig. 5a. To very simple one but the computed curve (Curve
produce the rough coincidence with observation, C in Fig. 5a) agrees well with the observed free-
the Moho has been set everywhere at slightly less air values (Curve A). Basement throughout the
than 24km depth, i.e. a little more than 6 km profile was assigned zero density contrast with
above the 30 km level usually considered standard crust, defined as having a 2.67 Mg m -3
appropriate for continental crust. The same density in its upper parts and a thickness of
effect could have been obtained by adding 30km. On the Spratly Rise the basement is
100 mGal to all points on the curve. overlain by only 100-200m of sediments but
The similarity in the shapes of curves A and B thick sediments of varying but generally low
on the SE side of the trough indicates the densities make up the southeastern trough wall.
suitability of the low rock density in this region. In the main a density of 2 . 3 M g m -3 has been
In contrast, the detailed match to the N W is used but a small block of slightly higher density
poor. The need to use higher average densities in (2.4 M g m -3) near the upper break of slope
this region is unsurprising since the sediments represents, in schematic form, a slightly denser
across the Spratly Rise are older, thinner and are thrust sheet. Details of the density variation in
commonly carbonates, but obtaining a local this region are in any case very poorly con-
match in this way destroys the rough agreement trolled, but no plausible changes would affect
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

424 J. MILSOM ET AL.

the main conclusion that can be drawn from the

model study, which is that there must be crustal
thinning from beneath the Spratly Rise to
beneath the Sabah Trough.
The density contrast across the Moho has been
assigned a value of 0.4 Mg m -3. A very large rise
in Moho level, to almost 20 km in places, was
required to produce the level of agreement shown
by Curve C in Fig. 5. Such thinning is normal for
extensional basins but is not a usual feature of
foreland basins, which are produced by offset
loads. Since such loads would not significantly
extend the crust, the implication is that the crust
beneath the trough is likely to have been already
thin before it was loaded. Since there is relatively
Fig. 6. Simplified subduction zone geometry, showing
little variation in gravity pattern parallel to the location of the 'hinge' region where the dip of the
strike of the trough, this argument can be applied subducted slab steepens rapidly.
anywhere along its length and not merely in the
immediate vicinity of this particular profile. It
can be concluded that the Sabah trough overlies
an old zone of crustal attenuation with a NE-SW
trend and deduced that this widespread trend down very far. Stages in a hypothesised evolu-
direction is a characteristic of the South China tion of the Sabah region controlled by these
Sea and has been imprinted on Borneo only considerations are shown in Fig. 7 and are
relatively recently. discussed below. A Borneo-based frame of
reference is used; rotation of Borneo would
require reorientation of each map as a whole but
Tertiary history of the Sabah segment would not greatly affect postulated relative
motions.
Any attempt to reconstruct the Tertiary history Figure 7a shows the hypothesised situation in
of Sabah must provide some explanation for the the earliest Tertiary. An oceanic 'proto-South
discordance between the geological trends in the China Sea' existed off Eurasia and was being
Crocker group and present-day gravitational subducted at a trench in the Borneo-Palawan
and geomorphological trends. Moreover, recon- region. Eventually (Fig. 7b), the Luconia plat-
structions which involve the supposed presence form arrived at the subduction zone off Sar-
of an active margin in NW Borneo during the awak, initiating the Sarawak Orogeny. The
Palaeogene should be compatible with current block may have been a part of the Eurasian
understanding of subduction processes derived margin or a separate microcontinent. In either
from studies of modern examples. The basic case, the shape of the margin of the block was
geometric relationships in these zones have been such that the trench farther to the northeast still
described by Isacks & Barzangi (1977) and are faced oceanic crust and there was no orogeny at
illustrated in Fig. 6. Volcanic activity is con- this time in Sabah.
centrated above the region where the upper During the Oligocene, continued slab pull led
surface of the subducted lithosphere is at depths to continued subduction off NW Sabah, placing
of between 100 and 150km. The dip of the slab the Eurasian crust which lay on the far side of
is shallow beneath the trench and forearc but the remaining oceanic fragment under tension
increases rapidly in a region (the subduction and leading to the development of the Tinjar
'hinge') which lies somewhere between the Line as a transform separating extending and
volcanic line and the trench axis. The high normal crust (Fig 7c). Eventually, in the Late
density of the slab causes it to sink through the Oligocene, the extension of the Eurasian margin
asthenosphere so that there will be a component culminated in the generation of the oceanic crust
of motion parallel to its length. This component of the present-day South China Sea oceanic
can lead to migration of the trench away from basin (Briais et al. 1993). It was probably at
the volcanic line (subduction roll-back) and is about the same time that thinned continental
most likely to do so if subduction slows or crust began to arrive at the Sabah subduction
ceases. However, the presence of continental zone. By the end of the Early Miocene, the
crust on the subducting plate will halt roll-back NE-SW-trending edge of the extended, but con-
because such crust is too buoyant to be taken tinental, crust of the Spratly Islands platform
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

G R A V I T Y A N D S T R U C T U R E WEST OF SABAH 425

Fig. 7. Stages in the Tertiary evolution of the Sabah and Sarawak segments.
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

426 J. MILSOM ET AL.

had entered and choked the subduction zone off conditions probably prevailed at the latitude of
Palawan and NW Sabah (Fig. 5d). Off Brunei Sabah but circulation would have been restricted
and SW Sabah this thicker crust was still some by the proximity of the Borneo landmass and
distance from the subduction zone anoxic conditions were probably common in
Following collision, the subducted slab con- bottom waters, favouring preservation of organic
tinued to sink but was pinned in the collision material. The sediments deposited in these
area, although the continental crust was to some grabens now lie at depth beneath the Outboard
degree dragged down to deeper levels and higher Belt, Inboard Belt and Baram Delta basins which
temperatures. Farther to the southwest, roll- rest on the Kinabalu Fold and Thrust Belt. Each
back was still possible, altering the orientation of these very different shallow geological
of the subduction hinge from NNE-SSW to domains hosts significant reserves of hydrocar-
N E - S W (Fig. 5e). Subsidence was accompanied bons, which suggests that the source rocks lie
by the movement of thrust sheets outwards from within the deeper older sediments which are
the Borneo margin under gravity and the common to all three. Migration paths into the
development of a prograding delta in the Borneo-derived thrusts and sediment wedges will
embayment between the Luconia Block, where have been complex and hydrocarbons could be
platform carbonates were accumulating, and the reservoired at almost any level, in traps of almost
Borneo margin. Subsequently, melting took any conceivable type. The deepest fields are likely
place within the underthrusting continental to be found in regions where diapirism is absent
crust and was greatest in the region where and potential seals have not been breached.
collision had first occurred. Ascending granitic
magmas formed the Kinabalu pluton. The The bathymetry shown in Fig. 1 is reproduced from
reoriented subducted slab detached and sank GEBCO Sheet 5.06, compiled by Y. Iwabuchi and
into the mantle, allowing rebound and uplift of made available through the GEBCO Digital Atlas
published by the British Oceanographic Data Centre
the Crocker Range, roughly along the line of the
on behalf of the IOC and IHO, 1994. We thank
subduction hinge. Uplift of the Crocker Range K. Hinz of the Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften
increased the sediment supply to the Baram und Rohstoffe for allowing us to make use of gravity
Delta and the gravitational drive on the Kina- data collected on the 1986 EXPLORA cruise, and the
balu Fold and Thrust Belt. Loading further Director-General, Geological Survey of Malaysia, for
depressed the thinned crust of the Eurasian permission to present some of the onshore gravity data
margin, accentuating the Sabah Trough and acquired in the Crocker Ranges region in 1995.
producing the general geological setting shown
in Fig. 2.

References
Conclusions BI~NARD,F., MULLER,C., LETOUZEY,J., RANGIN,C. &
TAHIR, S. 1990. Evidence of multiphase deforma-
Gravity modelling suggests that the present-day tion in the Rajang-Crocker Range (northern
trend of the Sabah Trough and parallel features Borneo) from Landsat imagery interpretation:
as far east as the Crocker Range is inherited from geodynamic implications. Tectonophysics, 183,
the fabric of the Early Miocene extended margin 321-339.
of Eurasia. However, this fabric must in turn BOL, A. J. & VAN HOORN,B. 1980. Structural styles in
have been determined by, or at least modified by, the western Sabah offshore. Geological Society of
the pattern of sea-floor spreading in the South Malaysia Bulletin, 31, 67-83.
BRIAIS, A., PATRIAT, P. & TAPPONNIER, P. 1993.
China Sea. The primary control may well have Updated interpretation of magnetic anomalies
been the position of the NE margin of the and seafloor spreading stages in the South China
Luconia Platform, along which a transform Sea: implications for the Tertiary of Southeast
fault permitting NW-SE relative motion devel- Asia. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98,
oped during the Late Palaeogene to accomodate 6299-6328.
extension in the region farther north. This former DURKEE, E. F. 1993. Oil, geology and changing
transform is now expressed as the Tinjar or West concepts in the Southwest Philippines (Palawan
Baram Line, which runs at right angles to, and and the Sulu Sea). GeologicalSociety of Malaysia
terminates, the Sabah Trough. Bulletin, 33, 241-262
HAMILTON,W. 1979. Tectonicsof the Indonesian region.
Palaeogene extension of the Eurasian margin US Geological Survey, Professional Papers, 1078.
produced a horst and graben terrane in which HAZEBROEK, P. & TAN, D. N. K. 1993. Tertiary
thick sediment piles were deposited in confined tectonic evolution of the NW Sabah continental
basins. In the southern part of the South China margin. Geological Society of Malaysia Bulletin,
Sea these basins were generally lacustrine. Marine 33, 195-210
 Downloaded from [Link] at Pennsylvania State University on February 18, 2016

G R A V I T Y A N D S T R U C T U R E WEST OF SABAH 427

HINZ, K. & SCHLI]TER, H. U. 1985. Geology of the Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-arc Basins.
Dangerous Grounds, South China Sea, and the American Geophysical Union Maurice Ewing
continental margin off southwest Palawan: results Series 1, 99-114
of Sonne cruises SO-23 and SO-27. Energy, 10, KUDRASS, H. R., HEIDICKE, M., CEPEK, P., KREUZER,
297-315 H. & MULLER, P. 1986. Mesozoic and Cenozoic
, FRITSCH, J., KEMPTER, E. H. K., MOHAMMAD, rocks dredged from the South China Sea (Reed
m. M., MOHAMED,D., VOSBERG,H., WEBER, J. & Bank area) and Sulu Sea, and their significance
BENAVIDEZ, J. 1989. Thrust tectonics along the for plate tectonic reconstructions. Marine and
north-western continental margin of Sabah/ Petroleum Geology, 3 19-30
Borneo. Geologishe Rundschau, 78, 705-730 Moss, S. J., CHAMBERS,J., CLOKE,I., DHARMASATRIA,
HOLLOWAY, N. H. 1982. North Palawan Block, ALl, J., MILSOM, J., CARTER, A. & BAKER, S.
Philippines- its relation to Asian mainland and (1997). New observations on the sedimentary and
role in the evolution of South China Sea. AAPG tectonic evolution of the Tertiary Kutai Basin,
Bulletin, 66, 1355-1383. East Kalimantan. This volume.
HUTCHISON, C. S. 1989. Geological evolution of South- RANGIN, C., BELLON, H., BI~NARD,F., LETOUZEY,J.,
East Asia. Clarendon Press, Oxford. MULLER, C. & SANUDIN, T. 1990. Neogene arc-
- - 1 9 9 6 . The 'Rajang accretionary prism' and 'Lupar continent collision in Sabah, Northern Borneo
Line' problem of Borneo. In: HALL, R. & (Malaysia). Tectonophysics, 183, 305-319.
BLUNDELL, D. J. (eds) Tectonic Evolution of TONGKUL, F. 1991. Tectonic evolution of Sabah,
Southeast Asia. Geological Society, London, Malaysia. Journal of Southeast Asian Earth
Special Publications, 106, 247-261 Sc&nces, 6, 395-405.
ISACKS, B. L. & BARZANGI, M. 1977. Geometry of XIA, K.-Y. & ZHOU, D. 1993. Geophysical character-
Benioff Zones: Lateral segmentation and down- istics and evolution of northern and southern
wards bending of the subducted lithosphere. In: margins of the South China Sea. Geological Society
TALWANI, M. & PITMAN III, W. C. (eds) Island of Malaysia Bulletin, 33, 223-240