PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010

The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition

GEODYNAMIC ORIGINS OF KALIMANTAN SEDIMENTARY BASINS

Awang H. Satyana (BPMIGAS)

Sedimentary basins of Kalimantan are prolific for
petroleum and coal deposits. One of the basin,
Kutei Basin, have been producing oil since the
late 1800s and remains to be one of the most
prolific basins in Indonesia. Producing basins
located at the eastern part of Kalimantan (Barito,
Kutei, Tarakan) are prolific for coal deposits,
mainly of Miocene coal deltaic deposits. Barito
and Kutei Basins are also two of the first three
basins in Indonesia explored for methane from
coal deposit (CBM -coal bed methane).
GEOLOGI SETTING
Kalimantan is the Indonesian portion of the island
of Borneo. To the west and north, it borders the
Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, to the
east lies the Straits of Makassar, with the Java Sea
to the south. Geologically, the western and
northern borders follow the peaks of the Central
Range, a complex terrain of variably deformed
and metamorphosed Paleozoic and Mesozoic
sediments and volcanics with Mesozoic granitic
plutons. To the northeast, the border with Sabah is
just south of the Semporna Arch, a NW-SE
trending volcanic arc which is now dormant and is
part of the larger inactive Sulu Arc system. The
geological boundary to the east of Kalimantan is
poorly defined, but is postulated to be Paleogene
spreading center in the Makassar Straits. To the
south and southwest Kalimantan covers part of the
larger Sundaland craton which crops out in the
Schwaner Mountains and extends westwards and
northwestwards under the South China Sea.

Figure 1 Borneo-Kalimantan forming the eastern part of the Sundaland/shelf.

 PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition

Borneo/Kalimantan is the result of Mesozoic Schwaner Mountains in the southwestern part of

accretion of ophiolitic, island arc crust and the island (Hall and Nichols, 2002).
microcontinental fragments of South China and
Gondwana origin, with their sedimentary cover,
onto the Paleozoic continental core of the

Figure 2 Simplified geology of Borneo (Hall and Nichols, 2002)

 PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition
HISTORY OF GEOLOGICAL
INVESTIGATIONS
Geological reconnaissance of Kalimantan dates
from the early 19th century and initially
concentrated on the search for alluvial gold and
diamonds as well as coal deposits (Courteney,
1991). The early reconnaissance work was carried
out in the coastal regions but by 1846 inland
expeditions had reached the Schwaner Mountains.
Various coals from Kalimantan were described in
an 1858 paper by van Dijk. Numerous oil seeps,
which were located near outcrops of coal in the
Balikpapan-Samarinda area of the Kutei Basin,
were formally recorded by Greve in 1865.
However, it was not until 1888 that the first
Mining Concession (MC) in Kalimantan was
awarded by the Sultan of Kutai to J.H. Menten.
The concession, called Mathilde, was for the
extraction of coal and covered 22,899 bouw
(162.5 sq. km). Though the early records have
been lost it seems that at the same time J.H.
Menten also obtained the Louise Mining
Concession. On 1891 these two concessions were
included in the Dutch Colonial Mining Law and
modified to include the extraction of petroleum,
hydrocarbon gases, etc., thus heralding the
beginning of the oil and gas industry in
Kalimantan. Since then, commercial hydrocarbon
production has been achieved in the Barito, Kutai
and Tarakan basins. Several of the fields in the
Mahakam Delta region of the Kutei Basin are
classified as giant fields.
GEODYNAMIC SETTING AND
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
Kalimantan Island is formed by the amalgamation
of several pre-Tertiary basement cores derived
from both continental and oceanic crust. The
continental Schwaner Core composes the island to
the southwest and west. Oceanic crust and its
accreted derivation of Kuching High and Central
Kalimantan Ranges form the backbone of the
island from western corner swings to the
northnortheast. The sub-cropped continental
Mangkalihat Arch constructs the eastern end of
the island, whereas the oceanic Meratus
Mountains form the southeastern end. In the light
of plate tectonic and terrane concepts, these
basements have originated from diverse places
and have subducted and collided to each other
forming the subduction and collision complex
with their associated accreted crust. These
terranes are bounded by structural elements of
sutures or representing former oceans, by narrow
mobile belts or by major fault zones. Situated
between or covered these basements are sediments
that derived from the basement highs and
deposited in basins formed by basement tectonic
processes. The sedimentary basins of Kalimantan
are : Pembuang Basin, a thin intra-cratonic basin
forming within southern margin of the Schwaner
Block at South Kalimantan; Barito Basin,
presently a foreland asymmetric basin situated at
the front of Schwaner continent and bordered by
the Meratus Mountains and thrust-fold belt at
Southeast Kalimantan; related with Barito-type
but smaller is Asem-Asem and Pasir Basins at
Southeast Kalimantan; narrow and elongated
intra-cratonic and strike-slip (pull-apart)basins of
Melawi and Ketungau at Western Kalimantan;
broad and very deep deltaic-embayment basin of
Kutei in Eastern Kalimantan holding the record of
the deepest basin in Indonesia; similar to Kutei-
type but smaller is Tarakan Basin at Northeast
Kalimantan. Across the border of the backbone of
the Central Kalimantan are deltaic basins similar
to Kutei-type of Sandakan Basin at Norteast
Kalimantan, Sabah Basin at North Kalimantan,
and Baram and Balingian Basins at Northwest
Kalimantan.
 PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition

Figure 3 Basement geology of Borneo-Kalimantan and distribution of sedimentary basins (Satyana et al.,
1999).

BASEMENT OF THE SEDIMENTARY between Sarawak and adjacent Kalimantan are

BASINS
The Tertiary basins of Kalimantan are underlained
by a variety of amalgamated terranes: continental
basement in the southwest, accreted zones of
Mesozoic age, and some continental fragments
and suture zones of Gondwanan origin.
Relationships between basements are not obvious
and remain speculative because of our limited
knowledge of pre-Eocene geology. The
southwestern part of Kalimantan consisted of
stable crust probably by the Early Cretaceous as
part of Sundaland. Subduction-and-collision-
related accretion in the Cretaceous added parts of
Java, the eastern Java Sea, eastern Borneo, and
Sulawesi to this continental block. This zone of
subduction may continue northward, beneath
strata of the Kutei Basin and beyond. In the area
Jurassic to Oligocene deep-sea sediments (Rajang
Group), ophiolites (at the Lupar line, Tatau-
Mersing line, the Boyan melange between the
Melawi and Ketungau basins), and other units
probably representing several subduction
complexes. Large granitic intrusives of Permian-
Triassic age between the Mandai and upper Kutei
basins in close proximity and perhaps in tectonic
contact with Jurassic-Cretaceous broken
formations suggest a long and complex tectonic
history. Poorly known (Cretaceous?) turbidites
and other units of deep-sea facies, ophiolites and
melanges occur in the area between Mangkalihat
and Sarawak. Toward the northwest, in Sabah, is
the Eocene-Oligocene turbiditic Crocker Group
 PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition
GEODYNAMIC ORIGIN OF
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
Formations of sedimentary basins in Kalimantan
were response to geodynamic evolution
undergone by Kalimantan during the Paleogene.
Geodynamic events responsible for the formations
of the Kalimantan's sedimentary basins are:
occurrence of regional strike-slip fault (Lupar-
Adang-Paternoster Fault), sea-floor spreading of
South China Sea, and opening of the Makassar
Strait. Regionally, all these events related to
escape tectonism (extrusion tectonics) due to
collision of India to Eurasia in mid-Eocene time.
Strike-slip faulting of the Lupar-Adang-
Paternoster Fault, crossing Kalimantan Island at
weak zone of the sutures in between the basement
terranes composing the island, was responsible for
the formation of rifting basins of Melawi and
Ketungau sedimentary basins by mechanism of
pull-apart basin. Deformation stress of the splay
of the fault to the south of Adang Fault was
responsible for the formation of parallel rifts
forming the Paleogene section of the Barito Basin
and may be Paleogene rifts in the Asem-Asem and
Pasir Basins, Southeast Kalimantan as well as rifts
in the Sebuku area. Neogene sections of these
basins related to foreland basin type as response to
the collision of the Meratus Mountains which was
started to be uplifted in the Neogene.
Opening of the Makassar Strait during the
Paleogene was responsible for the formations of
the Kutei and Tarakan Basins. The basins opened
as passive margins to the opening of the Makassar
Strait forming embayment geometry with
deposition of Neogene deltaic and deepwater
sediments. Paleogene sections of the basins are
rifted basins related to the continental rifting of
the Makassar Strait opening.
Opening of the South China Sea through sea-floor
spreading affected northwestern margin of Borneo
forming passive margin basins of Balingian,
Baram and Sabah in Malaysia and Brunei.
Sandakan Basin formed as passive margin basin
related to opening of the Sulu Sea, to the west of
Philippine.
In the Early Miocene there was a significant
change in the character of sedimentation around
Borneo/Kalimantan. Large amounts of siliciclastic
sediments began to pour into the deep basins to
the north and east of the island and major delta
systems formed which prograded rapidly away
from the island. The only possible source for the
sediments is Kalimantan itself, namely Kuching
High started to be uplifted between Oligo-
Miocene.
 PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition

Figure 4 Geologic sections acros Tarakan Basin (upper figure), Kutei Basin (middle figure), and Barito
Basin (lower figure) (Satyana et al., 1990)
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The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition

Figure 5. Stratigraphic column of prolific Kalimantan sedimentary basins as responses to

geodynamic/tectonic evolution (Satyana et al., 1999).

CONCLUSION for the formation of sedimentary basins in

Kalimantan-Borneo..
Geodynamic evolution of Kalimantan was
affected by regional tectonic evolution undergone
by Southeast Asia. Paleogene geologic evolution REFERENCES
of Southeast Asia was strongly controlled by
escape (extrusion) tectonics due to collision of Courteney, S., ed., 1991, Indonesia, Oil and
India to Eurasia in the middle Eocene. Formation Gas Fields Atlas: Vol. 5: Kalimantan,
of sedimentary basins in Kalimantan was further Indonesian Petroleum Association,
responses to this tectonic episodes. Presence of Jakarta.
trans-Kalimantan Lupar-Adang-Paternoster strike-
slip fault, opening of the Makassar Strait and
opening of the South China Sea were responsible
 PROCEEDINGS PIT IAGI LOMBOK 2010
The 39th IAGI Annual Convention and Exhibition

Davis, S. N., dan De Wiest, R. J. M., 1967,
Hydrogeology, 1st ed., John Wiley and Sons,
New York
Hall, R. and Nichols, G., 2002, Cenozoic
sedimentation and tectonics in Borneo:
climatic influences on orogenesis, in Jones,
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Consequences, Geological Society, London,
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Satyana, A.H., Imanhardjo, D.N., and Surantoko,
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Hydrocarbon Habitats of the Barito, Kutei,
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Indonesia : Major Dissimilarities in
Adjoining Basins, Journal of Asian Earth
Sciences, 17 (1999), 99-122.