Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712 www.elsevier.

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The BentongRaub Suture Zone

I. Metcalfe
Asia Centre, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia Received 7 February 2000; accepted 25 July 2000

Abstract It is proposed that the BentongRaub Suture Zone represents a segment of the main Devonian to Middle Triassic Palaeo-Tethys ocean, and forms the boundary between the Gondwana-derived Sibumasu and Indochina terranes. Palaeo-Tethyan oceanic ribbon-bedded cherts lange includes chert and limestone clasts preserved in the suture zone range in age from Middle Devonian to Middle Permian, and me that range in age from Lower Carboniferous to Lower Permian. This indicates that the Palaeo-Tethys opened in the Devonian, when Indochina and other Chinese blocks separated from Gondwana, and closed in the Late Triassic (Peninsular Malaysia segment). The suture zone is the result of northwards subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys ocean beneath Indochina in the Late Palaeozoic and the Triassic collision of the Sibumasu terrane with, and the underthrusting of, Indochina. Tectonostratigraphic, palaeobiogeographic and palaeomagnetic data indicate that the Sibumasu Terrane separated from Gondwana in the late Sakmarian, and then drifted rapidly northwards during the PermianTriassic. During the Permian subduction phase, the East Malaya volcano-plutonic arc, with I-Type granitoids and intermediate to acidic volcanism, was developed on the margin of Indochina. The main structural discontinuity in Peninsular Malaysia occurs between Palaeozoic and Triassic rocks, and orogenic deformation appears to have been initiated in the Upper Permian to Lower Triassic, when Sibumasu began to collide with Indochina. During the Early to Middle Triassic, A-Type subduction and crustal thickening generated the Main Range syn- to post-orogenic granites, which were emplaced in the Late TriassicEarly Jurassic. A foredeep basin developed on the depressed margin of Sibumasu in front of the uplifted accretionary complex in which the Semanggol Formation rocks accumulated. The suture zone is covered by a latest Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, mainly continental, red bed overlap sequence. 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: BentongRaub Suture Zone; Semantan basin; PermianTriassic boundary

1. Introduction The belt of Lower Palaeozoic rocks that extends from the Malay Peninsula northwards through Thailand, Burma and China was termed the YunnanMalaya Geosyncline by Burton (1967). Jones (1968, 1973) further interpreted the stratigraphy and northsouth facies belts of the Malayan portion as representing miogeosynclinal shelf or platform facies in the west, and eugeosynclinal facies (containing radiolarian cherts, basic igneous rocks and thick sections of deep-marine clastics) in central Malaya. He also suggested the former presence of a large continental landmass to the west, which has since rifted away (now interpreted as Gondwanaland). Hutchison (1973a) placed the data in a platetectonics context and interpreted the eugeosyncline as a former trench in a subduction system. Hutchison (1975), in his paper on ophiolites in Southeast Asia, named the central Malayan zone the BentongRaub ophiolite line, which then became widely quoted as the BentongRaub Line,
E-mail address: imetcalf@metz.une.edu.au (I. Metcalfe).

or alternatively as the RaubBentong Line. Mitchell (1977), furthermore, interpreted the zone of folded slates, radiolarian cherts and ysch, with vertical or overturned isoclinal folds, and minor ophiolitic bodies (his Zone 2) as representing oceanic crust and sediments, forming an accretionary complex produced by eastwards subduction. Establishment of this zone as a suture zone representing the site of a former ocean now seems beyond doubt, and it is now generally referred to as the BentongRaub Suture Zone. The northsouth trending BentongRaub Suture extends from Thailand through Raub and Bentong to the east of Malacca, Peninsular Malaysia. Southwards extension of the suture is controversial (see below). This suture represents the main Palaeo-Tethys Ocean which was destroyed by collision of the Sibumasu and Indochina continental terranes of Southeast Asia (Fig. 1). This paper presents an overview of the BentongRaub Suture Zone, and reviews the evidence for the age-duration of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean which it represents, and the age of suturing of the Sibumasu and Indochina terranes. Implications for palaeogeographic reconstructions of the region are also discussed.

1367-9120/00/$ - see front matter 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S1367-912 0(00)00043-2

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I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

KAZAKSTAN NORTHEAST CHINA (COMPOSITE)

THAILAND
L. Carb. (Tourn) L. Perm., U. Perm., M. Trias.

102E

TARIM QD KL QI L INDIA QS SG SOUTH CHINA

?

AL

NORTH CHINA

WB

SI

Alor Star

SIBUMASU

INDOCHINA

600 km

Bento ng

L BE TRA CEN

bi r Le

Gunong Semanggol

M. Trias.

SWB

N TER EA S T BEL n e

5N

5N

o ult Z Fa

Cameron Kuala Highlands Kangsar

L. Perm., U. Perm

N TER WES LT BE
100

Fig. 10

?L. Carb.

L. Carb. (Visean)

LT

U. Dev. (Fam)

Ra u b

Raub

U. Dev. L. Perm.

Jengka

Bentong
L. Perm. L. Carb. (Tourn)

INDOCHINA TERRANE (PART)

SIBUMASU TERRANE (PART)

L. Carb. (Visean)

Sheared Diamictite

Malacca

Suture Zone Rocks Muar Semanggol Formation Radiolarian locality with age
0 50 150 km 102E

lange, Fig. 1. Western, Central and Eastern Belts of Peninsular Malaysia and distribution of suture zone rocks (oceanic ribbon-bedded cherts, argillites, me serpentinites) and ribbon-bedded cherts, argillites and turbidites of the Semanggol Formation. Radiolarian localities and ages are also shown (after Metcalfe et al., 1999). Inset map shows the distribution of principal continental terranes and sutures of East and Southeast Asia. WB West Burma, SWB South West Borneo, S Semitau Terrane, HT Hainan Island terranes, L Lhasa Terrane, QI Qiangtang Terrane, QS Qamdo-Simao Terrane, SI Simao Terrane, SG Songpan Ganzi accretionary complex, KL Kunlun Terrane, QD Qaidam Terrane, AL Ala Shan Terrane (after Metcalfe, 1998).

2. Geological setting of the BentongRaub Suture Zone Peninsular Malaysia has traditionally been divided into three northsouth-trending zones based on differences of stratigraphy, mineralisation and structure. These zones have been variously referred to as the Western, Central and Eastern Belts Zones or Domains. In addition, some authors recognise a Northwestern Zone or Domain (Fig. 1).

ture Su

Bahau
U. Dev., L. Carb.

The traditionally recognised suture is exposed as an approximately 20 km wide zone bordering the eastern limit of the Main Range granitoids in Peninsular Malay lange, oceanic ribbon-bedded sia and comprises me cherts, schist, and discontinuous, narrow, elongate bodies of serpentinised macultramac rocks, interpreted as ophiolite (Hutchison, 1975, 1989; Tjia, 1987, 1989a,b). An occurrence of sheared diamictite, here lange, was reported interpreted as possibly tectonic me

SIBUMASU TERRANE (Western Belt of Peninsular Malaysia)

1. Langkawi and N.W. Malaya 2. South Perlis and North Kedah 3. Kanthan, Kinta Valley, Perak 4. Kuala Lumpur, Selangor
SIBUMASU TERRANE Biogeographical province /faunal affinities Palaeo Climate INDOCHINA TERRANE Palaeo Climate Biogeographical province /faunal affinities

INDOCHINA TERRANE (Central & Eastern Belts of Peninsular Malaysia)

5. Trengganu/ East Pahang 6. West & Central Pahang 7. South Pahang, Johore, Singapore
Panti Sst Tebak Fm Ulu Endau Beds Sedili Volcanics

Cretaceous

? Saiong Beds (Continental)

? Saiong Beds (Continental)

? Saiong Beds (Continental)

Warm

Warm

Yunnan, Kwangsi Laurasia Ryoseki Type Ryoseki Type

v v

v v

Tembeling Gp/ Gagau Gp

v v

v v

Tembeling Gp/ Gagau Gp

v vv

I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

Jurassic

Tethyan

Warm

Warm

Laurasia Tethyan Kerum Fm

v v v v

Triassic
Kodiang/ Chuping Lst.

Turbidites Eastern Tethyan Semanggol "Fm." Kanthan Limestone Singa Fm. (Glacial-marine) Kubang Pasu/ Kati Fm. (shallow-marine) Warm Warm

Yunnan Laurasia Tethyan Eastern Tethys Tethyan

Semantan Fm/ Gemas Fm Jerus Lst

v v

Jurong Fm

Permian

Kenny Hill Formation

Eastern Tethyan South China, Indochina Sibumasu Province N. W. Australia Gondwanaland Arctic-Eurasian Eastern Australia Arctic-Eurasian N. W. Australia Eastern Gondwanaland

Warm Cool Cool

18

Warm O Warm

Tethyan Cathaysian Euramerican China China

THAILAND
102E

v v v v

Aring Fm Sagor Fm Panching Lst

Gua Musang Fm

v v

Linggiu Fm Sumalayang Lst. Dohol Fm

Carboniferous

Warm

Raub Group/ Kepis Fm ?

? Mersing Beds ?

Charu Fm

Devonian
Setul Lst Fm. (Peritidal, subtidal) Mahang Fm. Kanthan Limestone

Kuala Lumpur Limestone

Warm

1
Warm S. China S. China (Pagoda Fm) S. China Australia, Tibet, N. China S. China, Argentina N. W. Australia
5N

Silurian

INDOCHINA TERRANE (PART)

2 3

Bento ng

Ordovician

Hawthornden Schist

5 6
ure S ut

5N

Warm

Rau b

Machinchang Fm.

Jerai Fm.

Dinding Schist

Warm

Cambrian ? ?

SIBUMASU TERRANE (PART)

1300-1800 Ma (not exposed) 1300-1800 Ma (not exposed) 1300-1800 Ma (not exposed)
0

4 7

Suture Zone Rocks

Precambrian

1300-1800 Ma (not exposed)

150 km 102E

900-1400 Ma (not exposed)

900-1400 Ma (not exposed)

900-1400 Ma (not exposed)

Schist Proterozoic basement

Limestone Dolomite

Sandstone Shale/Mudstone

Interbedded Shale, Sandstone, Siltstone Glacial-marine diamictites

v v v v v v v v

Volcanics Volcaniclastics Conglomerate

Bedded Chert Stratigraphic Break

Plants Vertebrates

Brachiopods Fusulines Stromatoporoids

Trilobites Conodonts Nautiloids

Gastropods Bivalves Small forams

Fig. 2. Representative generalised stratigraphic collumns and biogeographic afnities for the Peninsular Malaysia parts of the Sibumasu and Indochina terranes. Partly after Metcalfe (1988, 2000c).

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I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

SIBUMASU

CANNING BASIN

JURASSIC
205

M E

TRIASSIC
252

L M E L

PERMIAN
E

298

CARBONIFEROUS
354

S W N V T L

DEVONIAN
410

M E

SILURIAN
434

PRI LUD WEN

LLY A C LLN A

X X X

ORDOVICIAN
490

TR

L M E

CAMBRIAN
545 Limestone Sandstone Mixed clastics Glacial-marine diamictites Conglomerate Stratigraphic Break

Shale
X X X

Evaporites (salt)

Fig. 3. Comparison of the gross stratigraphies of Sibumasu and the Canning Basin, NW Australia.

by Metcalfe and Chakraborty (1988) near the eastern margin of the Central Belt (Fig. 1), which may indicate that the accretionary complex, exposed beneath Permo-Triassic rocks along the western margin of the Central Belt, extends eastwards beneath the Central Belt, or has been displaced eastwards by faulting. Other occurrences of Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic deep marine ribbon-bedded cherts to the west of the traditional suture zone (rocks previously included in the Kati and Semanggol Formations) indicate that the BentongRaub Suture Zone may be much wider than previously thought.

2.1. Sibumasu and Indochina terranes: origin and dispersal from Gondwanaland 2.1.1. Sibumasu Terrane Peninsular Malaysia west of the BentongRaub Suture forms part of the Sibumasu continental lithospheric terrane (Metcalfe, 1984, 1986, 1988). This terrane (Fig. 1, inset) includes parts of western Yunnan (Baoshan and Tenchong Blocks), the Shan States of Burma, northwest Thailand, Peninsular Burma and Thailand, western Peninsular Malaysia and northwest Sumatra (Metcalfe, 1988). It is bound on the east by the ChangningMenglian, Chiang Mai, Nan-

I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

40 8

695

PALAEOLATITUDE

SIB UM AS U

30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50

L L L G L L G

8 8 G 8 L

LL L

A S. CHIN G G

Sibumasu Block (Ref. at 18N, 95E) Observations 8 G L E. Sumatra E. Malaya Predicted from South China Predicted from Australia

L L G G G L

A US

L
TR A L IA

Devonian Carboniferous Permian Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

Tertiary

Fig. 4. Rapid northwards drift of the Sibumasu Terrane interpreted from palaeolatitude data (from Van der Voo, 1993 and supported by the more recent data of Richter et al., 1999).

Uttaradit, Sra Kaeo and BentongRaub Suture Zones, which have been interpreted as representing the main Palaeo-Tethys Ocean (Metcalfe, 1999; Metcalfe et al., 1999). Its eastern boundary in Sumatra is contentious. Hutchison (1975, 1983) and Gasperon and Varne (1995) suggest, principally on the distribution of granite types, that the BentongRaub Suture extends southeast-wards through the tin islands of Bangka and Billiton. Tjia (1985, 1989a), Tjia and Zaiton Harun (1985) and Metcalfe (1988, 1996, 1998) have suggested, on structural and stratigraphic grounds, that the suture extends into the Bengkalis Graben (see Hutchison, 1993; Metcalfe, 1996 for discussions). 2.1.2. Indochina terrane The eastern part of Peninsular Malaysia, east of the BentongRaub Suture, has a different pre-Jurassic tectonostraigraphy and evolution to the Sibumasu terrane. It was interpreted by Stauffer (1973) as part of an East Malaya Block, but is now regarded as a southwards extension of the Indochina Terrane (Metcalfe, 1998). This terrane is bounded to the northeast by the Song Ma Suture Zone, and to the west by the Uttaradit-NanSra Kaeo and BentongRaub sutures in Thailand and Malaysia, respectively. It is here taken to include what has previously been referred to as the East Malaya Block (excepting Borneo) of Stauffer (1974, 1983) and Metcalfe (1988). 2.1.3. Terrane origins and dispersal from Gondwanaland Palaeobiogeographic and tectonostratigraphic data for both Sibumasu and Indochina indicate that these continental blocks formed part of the IndiaAustralian margin of Gondwana in the Lower Palaeozoic (Metcalfe, 1988, 1990, 1993c, 1996, 1998; Burrett et al., 1990; Rong et al., 1995). Gondwana biogeographic afnities of faunas and oras on Sibumasu continue up to the Early Permian (Sakmarian), and the presence of Lower Permian glacialmarine diamictites, associated with cold climate indicators

and Gondwana faunas and oras (Fig. 2), dictate that this terrane was still attached to the margin of Gondwana up until the Early Permian. This is supported by gross tectonostratigraphical comparisons between the Sibumasu Terrane and the Canning Basin of NW Australia (Fig. 3), suggesting that the Cambrian to Lower Permian stratigraphy of Sibumasu is an extremely good t for a position outboard of NW Australia during that period. In the AssellianEarly Sakmarian, brachiopods on the Sibumasu Terrane belong to the Gondwanan Indoralian Province, but shortly after separation from Gondwana in the Late Sakmarian-Midian, the brachiopods developed their own Sibumasu Province faunas with endemics. By WujiapingianChangxingian times, the brachiopod faunas had become assimilated into the Cathaysian Province. These changes of provincial afnities of the brachiopod faunas of Sibumasu document the northwards drift of the terrane during the Permian (Shi and Archbold, 1998). Ordovician and Silurian faunas of Indochina show Gondwana afnities, but by Lower Carboniferous and younger times there appears to be no Gondwana connections (Metcalfe, 1988, 2000c; Fig. 2). It seems most likely that the Indochina Terrane, along with South and North China and Tarim, separated from Gondwana in the Devonian. 2.2. Palaeomagnetic data Palaeomagnetic summaries and studies of the Sibumasu and Indochina terranes and of Peninsular Malaysia have been made by Richter and Fuller (1996) and Richter et al. (1999). Palaeozoic and Mesozoic palaeomagnetic data from SE Asia remain problematic, due to widespread Mesozoic and Cenozoic overprints, and the Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic rocks often carry Late Triassic or Late Cretaceous overprints (Metcalfe, 1994; Richter and Fuller, 1996; Richter et al., 1999). Palaeolatitude data do, however, provide some constraints on terrane positions at certain times.

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There is a general paucity of Palaeozoic data from the Sibumasu Terrane. Results considered reliable (i.e. passing reversal and fold tests) indicate that the Sibumasu Terrane moved from about 42S in the Late Carboniferous to around 1520N in the late Triassic (Van der Voo, 1993; Fig. 4). This is consistent with the late Early Permian separation and Permo-Triassic northwards drift of Sibumasu as part of the Cimmerian Continent, interpreted from other data. The majority of the palaeomagnetic data for the Indochina Terrane has been collected from the Upper Palaeozoic and Mesozoic of the Khorat Plateau. All pre-Late Triassic rocks appear to have been remagnetised during the Late Triassic Indosinian Orogeny (Richter and Fuller, 1996). A palaeolatitude of 25N is indicated for the Khorat Plateau in the Late Triassic. The Virtual Geomagnetic Pole (VGP) presented for these data is indistinguishable from the VGP of remagnetised Permian Limestones. Interestingly, this also coincides with the mean VGP for remagnetised Permian and Triassic limestones of the Sibumasu Terrane, suggesting that a Late Triassic remagnetisation of these rocks is most likely. Unfortunately, available palaeomagnetic data for the Indochina Terrane provide little information on its pre-Late Triassic latitudinal position. 2.3. Volcanic arcs The BentongRaub Suture Zone represents the main Palaeo-Tethys Ocean, which would have been at least 2000 km wide at some point during its history. Long lived subduction subsequently destroyed the Palaeo-Tethys beneath either Indochina, Sibumasu, or both, resulting in destruction of the ocean, and the eventual collision of these two continental lithospheric blocks. Since subduction is required to destroy the Palaeo-Tethys, there must have been one or more volcanic arcs related to this subduction process. Two Late Palaeozoic volcanic arcs can be identied in the vicinity of the BentongRaub Suture; a Lower to Middle Permian volcanic arc (Peusangan-Palepat Volcanic Arc) distributed as an elongate, faultbounded strip to the west of the suture along the western edge of the Sibumasu Terrane in Sumatra, and a Middle to Upper Permian and Triassic volcanic arc (East Malaya Volcanic Arc), identied as an elongate strip to the east of the suture through eastern Peninsular Malaysia, and possibly extending to Bangka and Billiton, along the western edge of the Indochina Terrane. 2.3.1. Peusangan-Palepat Volcanic Arc This Lower? to Middle Permian plutonic-volcanic arc is interpreted as subduction-related (Katili, 1973; Pulungono and Cameron, 1984). McCourt et al. (1996), quoting Fontaine and Gafoer (1989), suggested that the faunas associated with the andesitic volcanics of this arc indicated warm climate and Cathaysian afnities, in contrast to typical Sibumasu Gondwana sequences. They suggested that the

arc was an oceanic island arc, subsequently accreted to Sibumasu through northerly directed subduction and the closure of a marginal ocean basin, in the Late Permian, or more likely Early Triassic. If the Peusangan-Palepat Volcanic Arc was already in existence in the early Early Permian, then the Sibumasu Terrane must have already separated from Gondwana prior to the Early Permian. However, we have substantial evidence that this was not the case, and that it only separated at the end of the Early Permian (see Metcalfe, 1996, 1998). This suggests that this poorly dated arc is probably of late Lower to Middle Permian, rather than early Lower Permian to Middle Permian age. This is critical when making comparisons with the Gondwana faunas, oras and the stratigraphy of the Sibumasu Terrane. This is because cold-climate glacial-marine sediments, faunas and oras are present on Sibumasu in the AsselianSakmarian, but soon after this, and certainly by Kungurian times, due to separation and northwards drift of the terrane, and climatic amelioration following retreat of the Gondwana glaciation in the late Sakmarian, sediments, faunas and oras become warm climate Tethyan/Cathaysian types (see Shi and Archbold, 1998). The only unequivocal early Lower Permian (Asselian) Cathaysian fauna and ora known in Sumatra is that of the Jambi area, and I have stressed in previous publications that this region formed part of the Cathaysian Indochina terrane during the Early Permian. Late Lower and Middle Permian and younger faunas of Sumatra, whether on the volcanic arc or on the Sibumasu or Indochina portions of the island, will be of warm climate Cathaysian type. The assertion, based on faunal and oral comparisons, by Hutchison (1993) that the West Sumatra Block (comprising the Alas, Kluet, and Kuantan Formations together with the Peusangan-Palepat Volcanic Arc) could not have been contiguous with Sibumasu in the Carboniferous to Early Permian is thus awed. A single KAr age of 248 ^ 10 Ma (Early Triassic) from the volcanics (Nishimura et al., 1978) was used by McCourt et al. (1996) to indicate the probable age of collision of this arc with Sibumasu. Clearly, precise dating of the Peusangan-Palepat Volcanic Arc volcanics is essential for constraining models for its evolution, and for Late Palaeozoic palaeogeographic reconstructions of the region. In addition, it is important to determine if this volcanic arc was constructed on the margin of Sibumasu (presence of late Lower Permian warm climate fossils do not preclude this) or if it was, as suggested by Wajzer et al. (1991) and McCourt et al. (1996), an oceanic island arc which was accreted to Sibumasu in the Triassic. In any case, this volcanic arc appears to have no direct relationship with subduction processes during the closure of the Palaeo-Tethys, represented by the BentongRaub Suture Zone, but it does, however, have important implications for a better understanding of the evolution of the Sibumasu terrane, and hence indirectly the suturing of this terrane to Indochina, and to the interpretation of the Permian palaeogeography of the region.

I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

RADIOLARIAN SPECIES/ ASSEMBLAGE ZONE (after Feng and Ye, 1996) RADIOLARIAN SPECIES/ ASSEMBLAGE ZONE (after Cheng, 1986; Ishiga, 1990; Braun and Schmidt-Effing, 1993) Triassocampe deweveri ass. zone Triassocampe coronata ass. zone ? Neoalbaillella ornithoformis ass. zone Neoalbaillella optima ass. zone Follicucullus charveti zone Follicucullus porrectus zone Follicucullus monacanthus ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella globosa zone Pseudoalbaillella longtanensis zone Albaillella sinuata ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella scalprata m. rhombothoracata ass. zone
BENTON SEMAGNGGO RAUB L SUTURE

697

Upper Lower Middle

TRIASSIC

Ladinian Anisia Scythian Changhsingia Wuchiapingia Capitanian

Triassocampe deweveri ass. zone Triassocampe coronata ass. zone Pseudoeucytis liui ass. zone Shengia yini ass. zone Wangia ass. zone Neoalbaillella ornithoformis ass. zone Neoalbaillella optima ass. zone

PERMIAN

Middle

Wordia Roadi Kunguri Artinskia

Follicucullus scholasticus m. II ass. zone Follicucullus monacanthus ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella fusiformis ass. zone Albaillella sinuata ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella scalprata m. rhombothoracata ass. zone

Lower

Sakmarian Pseudoalbaillella lomentaria Pseudoalbaillella sakmarensis ass zone Pseudoalbaillella u-forma m. II Pseudoalbaillella elegans ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella lomentaria zone Pseudoalbaillella u-forma m. II ass. zone

Asselian Gzhelian Kasimovia Moscovia Bashkiria

Upper

Pseudoalbaillella u-forma m. I ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella bulbosa ass. zone Pseudoalbaillella nodosa ass. zone ? Albaillella nazarovi zone Albaillella rockensis zone Latentifistula concentrica zone Albaillella cartalla ass. zone Eostylodictya rota zone Albaillella indensis ass. zone Albaillella deflandrei ass. zone Albaillella paradoxa ass. zone Albaillella-1 ass. zone Holoeciscus 3 ass. zone Holoeciscus 2 ass. zone Holoeciscus 1 ass. zone Pre-Holoeciscus ass. zone

CARBONIFEROUS

Serpukhovi Pseudoalbaillella annulata ass. zone Visan

Albaillella cartalla ass. zone Albaillella Albaillella Albaillella Albaillella indensis ass. zone indensis brauni ass zone deflandrei ass. zone paradoxa ass. zone

Lower Upper

Tournaisia

DEVONIAN

Famennian
Entactina - Entactinosphaera ass. zone

Frasnian
Lower

? Eoalbaillella lilaensis ass. zone ?

Fig. 5. Radiolarian ages and zones represented by ribbon-bedded cherts in the BentongRaub Suture Zone and cherts, previously included in the Semanggol Formation. Radiolarian assemblage zones after Feng Qinlai and Ye Mei (1996), Cheng (1986), Ishiga (1990) and Braun and Schmidt-Efng (1993).

2.3.2. East Malaya Volcanic Arc The Middle to Upper Permian and Triassic East Malaya Volcanic Arc comprises intermediate to acidic volcanics, distributed in eastern Peninsular Malaysia and extending southeastwards to the islands of Bangka and Billiton. Andesitic and acidic volcanism occurs in the Upper Permian, and acidic volcanism predominates in the Triassic (Metcalfe et al., 1982). The age of this arc may also extend down into the Carboniferous, as abundant volcaniclastics and some volcanics of this age are widely distributed in Carboniferous rocks in eastern Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 2). The arc was constructed on the margin of the Indochina Terrane and would have been the result of eastwards (but originally northwards) subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean. The subduction polarity suggested, is consistent with that indicated by tectonic transport directions (see below), and as time progressed, the volcanic arc probably migrated southwestwards. I-type granitoids of Late Permian to Triassic age

east of the BentongRaub Suture, represent the plutonic elements of the volcanic arc (Hutchison, 1977; see below).

3. The accretion phase and description of the Bentong Raub suture 3.1. Suture zone rocks The BentongRaub Suture Zone includes accretionary complex rocks, with oceanic ribbon-bedded cherts, argil lange, serpentinites and contilites, turbiditic rhythmites, me nental margin/shelf deposits. 3.1.1. Ribbon-bedded cherts Cherts occurring as fault-bounded packages forming part lange, are well of an accretionary complex, or as clasts in me developed, and occur as white, grey, green, red and black

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cherts, generally thinly bedded, but sometimes more thickly bedded (especially red and green varieties). Most contain abundant radiolarians, but preservation is generally poor, with recrystallisation of the cherts and radiolarian tests making extraction and identication difcult. Despite these difculties, recent intensive studies of radiolarians from these cherts (Sashida et al., 1993; Spiller and Metcalfe, 1995a,b; Sashida et al., 1995; Spiller, 1996; Metcalfe et al., 1999) have provided constraints on the age of these PalaeoTethyan sediments and hence on the opening and closure ages for the ocean. Fault-bounded blocks of oceanic bedded-cherts of the traditionally recognised suture zone (Fig. 1) are dated by radiolarians as Upper Devonian (Famennian), Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian and an) and LowerMiddle Permian (AsselianRoadian) Vise and represent the Holoeciscus 23, Albaillella deandrei, Albaillella cartalla, Pseudoalbaillella u-forma m. II, Pseudoalbaillella lomentaria, Pseudoalbaillella scalprata m. rhombotharacata, Albaillella sinuata and Pseudoalbaillella longtanensis radiolarian zones (Metcalfe, 1992; Spiller and Metcalfe, 1993, 1995a,b; Metcalfe and Spiller, 1994; Spiller, 1996; Basir Jasin and Che Aziz Ali, 1997; see Fig. 5). In addition, ribbon-bedded cherts, argillites and pelagic limestones, previously included within the Semanggol Formation (Fig. 1), have yielded Permian and Triassic radiolarians. Sashida et al. (1993) reported Upper Permian radiolarians representing the Follicucullus monacanthusand Neoalbaillella ornithoformis zones of Ishiga (1990). Lower? and Upper Permian radiolarians representing the ?Pseudoalbaillella longtanensis, Follicucullus monacanthus and Neoalbaillella ornithoformis zones were also reported from the Lower Chert Member of the Semanggol Formation (Spiller and Metcalfe, 1995b). Basir Jasin (1994), Spiller and Metcalfe (1995b) and Metcalfe et al. (1999) report Middle Triassic radiolarians representative of the Triassocampe deweveri zone. An interesting isolated block of isoclinally folded, tuffaceous chert exposed along a road cutting near Kuala Kangsar (Fig. 1), west of the BentongRaub Suture (sensu stricto), has yielded very poorly preserved radiolarians, tentatively assigned to ?Albaillella deandrei Gourmelon, which suggests a Lower Carboniferous age (Spiller and Metcalfe, 1995b). In addition, ribbon-bedded cherts at Bukit Telaga Jatoh, south of Pokok Sena, Kedah, previously ascribed to the Kubang Pasu Formation, have yielded Entactinia variospina Won and Callella sp. indicating a Lower Carboniferous (probably Tournaisian) age (Basir Jasin, 1995). The relationship of these tuffaceous and ribbon-bedded cherts to the BentongRaub Suture is not clear. Basir Jasin (1995) interpreted them as continental margin deposits, but they may alternatively represent part of the accretionary complex that has been thrust westwards over the Sibumasu terrane margin. Radiolarians recovered from rocks within the Bentong Raub Suture Zone, sensu stricto, (Figs. 1 and 5) suggest that an open ocean basin existed between the Sibumasu and

Indochina terranes from at least Late Devonian to Middle Permian, indicating that opening of the Palaeo-Tethys occurred in the Devonian, as advocated by Metcalfe (1996, 1997, 1998), and closure of the ocean, in the Peninsular Malaysia segment, occurred in the Late Permian or, more likely, the Triassic (Metcalfe et al., 1999). The discovery of Lower and Upper Permian and Middle Triassic radiolarians from the lower chert member of the Semanggol Formation in northwest Peninsular Malaysia, presents some problems in interpreting this formation in the overall tectonic evolutionary framework. Sashida et al. (1995) suggested a Lower Triassic collision between Sibumasu and East Malaya (Indochina) and suggested that the upper part of the Semanggol Formation (mainly rhythmites and conglomerates) formed in a foredeep successor basin outboard of and partly over the accretionary complex, and identied the Semantan Formation basin of the Central Belt of the Malay Peninsular as a fore-arc basin (see Sashida et al., 1995; Fig. 7). It seems unlikely that the Lower to Upper Permian ribbon-bedded radiolarian cherts, previously mapped as part of the Semanggol Formation, would have formed in the foredeep successor basin, and these were more likely deposited in the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean itself, prior to collision. This would imply that these cherts form part of the accretionary complex and hence part of the BentongRaub Suture Zone (sensu lato). One would also expect to observe structural discontinuity between these cherts and the Triassic sediments of the Semanggol Formation. In this regard, repetition of Lower and Upper Permian ages in an apparently coherent steeply dipping sequence of cherts near Kuala Nerang, northeast of Alor Star, implies tight isoclinal folding or repetition of beds by thrusting (Spiller and Metcalfe, 1995a). This has not been observed in Triassic cherts. In addition, Azhar Haji Hussin (1993) reinterpreted the stratigraphy at Gunong Semanggol (type locality for the Semanggol Formation in the southern part of its outcrop area; see Fig. 1) and recognised a pre-Semanggol unit of 80 m thickness comprising predominantly chert clastbearing orthoconglomerates overlain unconformably by the Semanggol Formation, comprising a basal conglomarate and then an Upper Triassic (dated by ammonoids and bivalves) turbidite sandstone-shale unit. A major tectonic event is thus implied, which disrupted the deposition of the older chert sequence, preceding the deposition of the pre-Semanggol unit at Gunong Semanggol. An early to Middle Triassic age for this tectonic event is implied but not precisely constrained. lange 3.1.2. Me lange is well developed in the exposed suture zone Me rocks and has a sheared mud/silt matrix containing a variety of clasts, including ribbon-bedded chert, limestone, sandstone, conglomerate, blocks of turbiditic rhythmites, volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks. The sizes of clasts in the lange vary from a few millimetres to several metres, me and exceptionally, up to several hundred metres or more

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clast at this locality yielded a specimen of Neostreptognathodus sp., again indicative of a Permian age. At 2.2 km along the Krau Satu Road near Raub one limestone clast yielded Mesogondolella bisselli (Clark and Behnken) and Sweetognathus whitei (Rhodes). The cooccurrence of these two species represents the Mesogondolella bisselli Sweetognathus whitei Zone of Lower Permian lange (middle Artinskian) age. A second clast at this me locality yielded Xaniognathus cf. sweeti Igo, which indicates a Lower Permian (early Cathedralian) age (Igo, 1981). In addition to conodonts, a third clast at this locality contained fusulinids which have been identied as Paraschwagerina sp., Schwagerina sp. and Pseudofusulina sp. The co-occurrence of these three genera indicate a probable Sakmarian age. lange Clasts within the BentongRaub Suture Zone me range in age from Upper Devonian to Permian, and there lange as post Upper Devofore constrain the age of the me nian to pre Triassic (no Triassic clasts so far known).

lange: (A) exposure of me lange with Fig. 6. BentongRaub Suture Zone me limestone clasts at Taman Indapura, Raub; (B) volcaniclastic clast in lange just north of Bentong; and (C) limestone clast that has yielded me lange at 2.2 km along the RaubKrau Lower Permian microfossils in me Satu road. See Fig. 9 for locations.

in size. An example of a large knocker clast which is lange is Bukit Cinta Manis, an undated, surrounded by me unfossiliferous limestone hill near Karak. Basic subductionrelated volcanic clasts and true ophiolites (which occur in the Nan-Uttaradit suture further north) have not, however, been reported from the BentongRaub Suture. The matrix lange has not so far yielded fossils. Both pervaof the me lange and more variably sheared sively sheared tectonic me lange (olistostrome) are recognised (Chaksedimentary me raborty and Metcalfe, 1987; Metcalfe, 1987; Tjia, 1987, 1989a,b). I have not seen any convincing evidence, so far, lange represents mud diapirism, but that any of the the me this remains a possibility in an accretionary complex setting. Clasts of chert have yielded Upper Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian radiolarians (Spiller and Metcalfe, 1995a,b; Spiller, 1996; Metcalfe et al., 1999). In addition, limestone lange exposed at Taman Indapura and at clasts from me 2.2 km along the Krau Satu Road near Raub (Fig. 6) have yielded Lower Permian conodonts (Fig. 7) and fusulinids (Fig. 8). One limestone clast at Taman Indapura yielded Neogondolella idahoensis (Youngquist, Hawley and Miller) and Xaniognathus cf. sweeti Igo, the co-occurrence of which suggests a late Lower Permian, Kungurian age. A second

3.1.3. Serpentinite Serpentinite bodies are found distributed along the Bentong Raub Suture (Fig. 9). These are generally small bodies, but larger ones near Sungei Telom and Cheroh are about 20 km in length and about 6 km in width. The serpentinite near Cheroh, and some other bodies, are in contact with phyllitic schists, or occur as diapiric intrusions along lange (e.g. small the fault contacts between schist and me serpentinite at Pos Mering, east of Cameron Highlands see lange (Haile Fig. 10), but other bodies are clearly within me et al., 1977 and authors personal observations). Jones (1973) suggested that these serpentinite bodies may represent original macultramac igneous rocks, and perhaps in some cases submarine lava ows (pillow basalts). Jaaafar bin Ahmad (1976) reported a transition from peridotite to serpentinite near Durian Tipus. Serpentinites at Bukit Rokan Barat, near Bahau, Negeri Sembilan, contain pods and layers of chromian spinel. Microprobe analyses of the cores of chromian spinel grains (Khoo and Tan, 1993; Khoo, 1993) yield Cr/(Cr Al) ratios which plot in the oceanic peridotite eld of Bonatti and Michael (1989). There is no direct evidence so far for the age of the serpentinites. Hutchison (1973a, 1975) proposed that the serpentinite bodies represent dismembered ophiolites, mixed with oceanic sediments in a subduction trench. There is, however, little evidence to support the presence of true ophiolites along the BentongRaub Suture Zone. The serpentinite bodies are generally small, and there is no evidence of layered ultramacs or sheeted dyke complexes. Other Palaeo-Tethyan ophiolites of the region probably represent the remnants of back-arc basin oceanic crust rather than the main oceanic crust of the Palaeo-Tethys (see Wang Xiaofeng et al., 2000). This seems more logical in view of the current interpretation of the origin and occurrence of ophiolites as mainly the remnants of back-arc basins.

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lange near Raub: 1,2,12,13. Mesogondolella idahoensis (Youngquist, Hawley and Miller), clast Fig. 7. Lower Permian conodonts from limestone clasts in me sample 896, Taman Indapura, Raub. 1,2,11 upper views; 12 basal view. 3,4,5. Mesogondolella bisselli (Clark and Behnken), clast sample 883, 2.2 km, Raub Krau Satu road. 3 and 4, upper and inner lateral views of same element; 5. Inner lateral view. 6,7. Neostreptognathodus sp., clast sample 897, Taman Indapura, Raub, Outer lateral and upper views. 8,9. Sweetognathus whitei (Rhodes), clast sample 883, km, 2.2 km, RaubKrau Satu road. 5. Outer lateral view. 6. Upper view. 10,11. Xaniognathus cf. sweeti Igo, clast sample 886, 2.2 km, RaubKrau Satu road. 7. Upper view. 6. Lateral view.

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lange, 2.2 km, RaubKrau Satu road (see Fig. 7 for location). 1. Paraschwagerina Fig. 8. Lower Permian (Sakmarian) fusulinids from a limestone clast in me sp. 2,3. Schwagerinasp. 46. Psuedofusulina sp.

3.1.4. Amphibolites and amphibole schists Amphibolites and amphibole schists also characterise the BentongRaub Suture, and appear to represent metamorphosed basic igneous rocks, but the original igneous fabric has been obliterated. 3.1.5. Clastic metasedimentary rocks Metamorphosed mudstones and rhythmites (interbedded mudstones and turbiditic greywackes) also occur along the BentongRaub Suture Zone, where they appear to represent the upper part of the fault-

bounded packages of ocean plate stratigraphy. Clasts lange in of these rocks are common components of me the region. There is, however, no exposed, signicantly thick, development of turbiditic ysch along the exposed suture zone in Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. However, thick sequences of highly folded turbidites are exposed along the EastWest Highway in the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia, which may represent the near-continent accretionary complex rocks of the suture. These rocks are associated, as fault-bounded lange and phyllites, where packages, with schist, me

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Pre-Silurian Schists

4N

CHEROH
Melange, Cherts, Argillites
Taman Indapura (Fig. 6A)

RAUB
Krau Satu 2.2 km locality (Fig. 6C) 0 10km

Serpentinite

Fig. 9. Exposures of BentongRaub Suture Zone rocks in the RaubBentong area. For general location see Fig. 1.

the suture zone rocks are exposed along the highway just west of the Perak-Kelantan state boundary (Tjia, 1989a). Equivalent rocks to the south are probably hidden under younger sediments of the Central Belt.

3.1.6. Limestone Apart from shallow-marine limestones with conodonts lange, limestones and fusulinids that occur as clasts in me of Permian and Early Triassic age are distributed along the western part of the Central Belt, and some of these appear to have been deposited on top of the accretionary complex.

MA IN
BENTONG

Melange (Fig. 6B)

N
R AN G E
G R A N IT E
102E
3.1.7. Schists and phyllites Quartzmica schists, phyllites and amphibolite schists are found distributed in a narrow zone about 7 km wide, and are generally exposed to the west of the main lange-chert zone of the suture. Packages of schist and me phyllite are, however, also intimately associated with lange, mudstone and chert in repeated tectonic stacks me within the accretionary complex (see Fig. 10). The quartzmica schists are known as the Bentong Schist in the RaubBentong area, and equivalents further to the south are the Karak Formation (part) and the Pilah Schist. The schists are locally strongly carbonaceous, and also

KARAK

I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

703

101o35' E 4o45' N
S. Ber
S. C
Granite-Schist Contact Zone

101o40' E

101o45' E BLAU

POS

B
end e
43 75 67

35

To usang M Gua

roh

Bt. Bayoh 1915ft

80 76 31 35

30

4o45' N

POS MERING
To Ca m Highla eron nds

S. Berok

2401 ft

101o40' E
76

5 km

MENDROID

101o35' E

Strike & Dip

Dirt Road

Thrust

Fault

Melange

Mudstone

Bedded Cherts

Serpentinite

Schist

Granite

A
0

1 km

1 km

Fig. 10. (A) Sketch map of BentongRaub Suture Zone rocks exposed along the logging dirt road from Cameron Highlands to Gua Musang near Pos Mering and Pos Blau, Ulu Kelantan. Partly after Tjia and Syed Sheikh Almashoor (1993) and the authors own observations in the eld. See Fig. 1 for general location. (B) Granitoids of Peninsular Malaysia shown in relation to the BentongRaub Suture Zone (after Cobbing et al., 1992; Metcalfe et al., 1999).

contain lenses of amphibolite schist, interpreted as possible metamorphosed basic igneous rocks. Quartz within the schists occurs as veins, lenses, sigmoids or irregular bodies up to 7 m in size (Tjia, 1989b). Phyllitic mudstones previously included in the Foothills Formation, have yielded Lower Devonian graptolites (Jones, 1970). The schists and phyllites are here regarded as metamorphosed continental (Gondwana) margin clastic deposits.

3.2. Granitoids Granite and granitoid batholiths are widely distributed in the Southeast Asian region and are the result of major plate tectonic processes that have affected this area. Three broad belts of granitoids are recognised in Southeast Asia (Fig. 11A): a Western Granitoid Province, comprising Late Cretaceous to Eocene high-level I-type granitoids related

704 I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

20N

98E

102E

106E

20N

102E THAILAND

104E

LAOS
6N

100 km 6N

0 MYAN MAR
16N

400 km

16N

TH AILAN D

CAMBODIA
12N 12N

4N

4N

GRANITE PROVINCES
Western (S + I typ es) [Cretaceou s]
8N 8N Main Range (S typ e) [latest Triassic - Early Ju rassic]

Eastern (I typ e) [Up p er Perm ian-Triassic and isolated p ost-orogenic p lu tons of Cretaceou s age]
4N

Main Range plutons 2N

4N

Central Belt plutons Eastern Belt plutons Cretaceous plutons

2N

MALAYSIA
A TR A

SU M

A
98E

B
102E 106E 110E

Bentong-Raub Suture Zone Rocks

102E 104E

100E

Fig. 11. A. Granitoid Provinces of Southeast Asia (after Cobbing et al., 1992). B. Granitoids of Peninsular Malaysia shown in relation to the Bentong-Raub suture zone (after Cobbing et al., 1992 and Metcalfe et al., 1999).

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to northeastwards subduction of the Ceno-Tethys ocean; a Central Granitoid Province, which comprises Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic S-type collisional granites; and an Eastern Belt Province, of mainly calc-alkaline I-type granitoids (but with some S-type) of Permian to Triassic age (Hutchison, 1977; Cobbing et al., 1992). The Western Belt province granitoids are not related to the BentongRaub Suture Zone and are not discussed further here. 3.2.1. Central granitoid province (Main Range granites in Peninsular Malaysia) The Main Range granites of Peninsular Malaysia form the backbone mountain ranges of the Peninsula, and represent the Central Granitoid Province of SE Asia, extending northwards into Thailand and southwards into the Indonesian Tin Islands, where they overlap with Eastern Belt Province types. They comprise a series of large mesozonal batholiths and plutons of tin-bearing, predominantly biotite granites of S-type ilmenite series, emplaced into Lower to Middle Palaeozoic low-grade metamorphic (greenschist facies) rocks in Peninsular Malaysia (Cobbing et al., 1992). Throughout the province, the granitoids have narrow thermal aureoles and are generally undeformed, apart from cataclasis related to fault zones (Cobbing et al., 1992). The Main Range Granite is also enriched in uranium and thorium. U Pb zircon emplacement ages for the granites range from Late Triassic (230 ^ 9 Ma) to earliest Jurassic (207 ^ 14 Ma), with a peak at around 210 Ma (Liew and Page, 1985; Cobbing et al., 1986; Darbyshire, 1988; Hutchison, 1989; Cobbing et al., 1992). Initial 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios are high, ranging from 0.7159 to 0.7512, indicating a continental source for the granites (Liew and McCulloch, 1985; Cobbing et al., 1992). This is also supported by zircon inheritance ages indicated by concordia intercepts, which range from 1500 to 1700 Ma, and Nd model ages which range from 1300 to 1800 Ma (Liew and McCulloch, 1985) indicating that the granites were derived from melting of a Proterozoic continental basement. Reinterpretation of Bignell and Snellings (1977) RbSr whole rock isotopic data for the Main Range, by the application of the Intrusion extrapolation method led Krahenbuhl (1991) and Kwan et al. (1992) to the controversial proposal that the major magmatic event in the Main Range was intrusion of granite between 254 and 251 Ma (PermianTriassic boundary interval). UPb zircon isotopic data is regarded here as more reliable in providing tectonically signicant, robust emplacement ages. The genesis of the Main Range granites has been suggested to be in an A-type subduction setting (Hutchison, 1989) and Rb vs. (Nb Y) plots indicate that the majority of the granites are syn- to post-collisional (Cobbing et al., 1986, 1992). 3.2.2. Eastern Granitoid province (Central and Eastern belt granitoids of Peninsular Malaysia) The Eastern Belt granitoids of the Malay Peninsula (Fig. 11B) are a compositionally expanded calc-alkaline series,

mainly metaluminous I-type, but with some minor S-type bodies present. The batholiths are mainly small and composite, and plutons range from rare gabbro to predominant monzogranite. The ages of the granites range from Permian, or perhaps Carboniferous, to Triassic, according to Cobbing et al. (1992), and are of similar age to their Upper Palaeozoic to Triassic host rocks. NdSr and UPb zircon ages range from 265 to 230 Ma, according to Liew and McCulloch (1985), but Darbyshire (1988) found only Triassic ages. This plutonic suite, together with associated rhyoliticignimbriticandesitic volcanics of Permian to Triassic age, were interpreted to represent an ensialic volcano-plutonic arc, overlying a Permo-Triassic Benioff Zone (Hutchison, 1989). Zircon inheritance ages range from 900 to 1400 Ma for I-type granitoids and a single inheritance age of 1180 has been obtained for an S-type granitoid (Liew and McCulloch, 1985). Again, like western Peninsular Malaysia, a Late Proterozoic continental basement is indicated, but this is somewhat younger than that of the Sibumasu Terrane part of the peninsula (13001800 Ma). The majority of Rb vs. (Nb Y) plots for Eastern Belt granitoids fall in the volcanic arc eld (Cobbing et al., 1986, 1992). The volcano-plutonic arc is largely buried in the Central Belt region of the Malay Peninsula by thick Triassic volcaniclastic mudstones and turbidites (Semantan and Gemas Formations) derived from the arc (Metcalfe et al., 1982), but there are many inliers where Permian to Lower Triassic island arc volcanic rocks are found closely associated with limestone (e.g. Kampong Awah, Pahang). In the Central Belt of Peninsular Malaysia, we also nd a narrow line of plutons (Fig. 11B) which are distinct from, but contemporaneous with, the Main Range plutons. The Benom granite has yielded a RbSr age of 207 ^ 7 Ma (Early Jurassic) with an initial 87Sr/ 86Sr ratio of 0.7079, which is signicantly lower than ratios observed in the Main Range granites (Hutchison, 1989). Several Late Cretaceous granitoids are also present in the Central Belt of the Peninsula, indicating an igneous event at this time, but this is unlikely to be related to the BentongRaub Suture. 3.2.3. Tectonic setting of granitoids The above discussion indicates that the Eastern Province granitoids of Peninsular Malaysia were generated by oceanic subduction in Permian to Triassic times. The Main Range granitoids, on the other hand, were produced by continental crustal melting in a syn- to post-collisional setting, with latest Triassicearliest Jurassic emplacement. The generation of the Main Range granitoids (age of melting of the continental crust) probably occurred some tens of millions of years prior to their emplacement, indicating that the collisional event that generated them began in Early to Middle Triassic times, or perhaps even as early as the latest Permian. The distribution of granitoids in Peninsular Malaysia, with Upper Triassic to Lower Jurassic S-type syn- to post-collisional granites to the west, and Permian (possibly

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Carboniferous) to Triassic I-type volcanic arc granitoids to the east, and BentongRaub Suture Zone rocks in between, suggests a west-facing subduction system (eastwards subduction) during Permian (possibly Carboniferous) to Triassic times. This is consistent with the stratigraphical, palaeontological, structural and palaeomagnetic data of many authors and summarised in this paper that suggests collision of the Sibumasu and Indochina continental terranes in the Triassic. Subduction polarity, indicated by the distribution of granitoids in Peninsular Malaysia, is also consistent with subduction polarity derived from tectonic vergence (see below), and also with the position of the East Malaya PermianTriassic volcanic arc on the margin of Indochina (see above). 3.3. Structural vergence Detailed studies of the structural geology of the suture zone rocks (Tjia, 1986, 1987, 1989a,b; Tjia and Zaiton Harun, 1985) indicates that tectonic transport was predominantly westwards in the Late Palaeozoic, indicating eastwards subduction. Minor eastwards tectonic transport of younger age is interpreted as due to plate collision in the Permo-Triassic. Tjia and Syed Sheikh Almashoor (1993) recognised at least seven tectonic packages of suture zone lange, sandstone, mudstone, chert rocks (schist, phyllite, me and serpentinite) in a stacked imbricate structure in Ulu lange here contains large limeKelantan (Fig. 10). The me stone (up to several metres), sandstone, chert, mudstone and volcanic and volcaniclastic rock clasts. Massive mudstone, lange, between Pos Mering and interpreted as a clast in me Pos Blau (Fig. 10), has yielded Permian brachiopods (Mohd Shaffea Leman, personal communication), and ribbonbedded cherts near Pos Blau (Fig. 10) have yielded Permian radiolarians (Spiller and Metcalfe, 1995b; Spiller, 1996; Basir Jasin and Che Aziz Ali, 1997). 3.4. Overlap sequence A thick sequence of latest Triassic? marginal marine to continental, and Jurassic and Cretaceous continental red beds, comprising conglomerates, mudstones and sandstones overlies the BentongRaub Suture Zone and the folded and eroded Palaeozoic and Triassic sediments of Peninsular Malaysia. These molasse sediments have been mapped as the Saiong Beds in NW Malaya, the Raub Red Beds in West Pahang and the Kerum Formation, and Tembeling and Gagau Groups in the eastern part of Peninsular Malaysia (Fig. 2). The Raub Red Beds are not directly dated, and were considered to be Carboniferous or older by Haile et al. (1977). However, they appear to overlie folded marine strata in the Raub area, dated as Permian at the Raub Gold Mine (Metcalfe, 1993a), and are less deformed than the Palaeozoic rocks in the area. This indicates a younger, probably Mesozoic age. This overlap sequence indicates that suturing of the Sibumasu and Indochina Terranes was completed prior to the uppermost Triassic.

4. Major deformational phases in Peninsular Malaysia Systematic regional structural geology analyses for Peninsular Malaysia are generally lacking. However, stratigraphical and structural evidence suggests three folding and uplift episodes occurred in Peninsular Malaysia: one in the Late Permian (Chakraborty and Metcalfe, 1984; Harbury et al., 1990; Barr and MacDonald, 1991); one in the Late TriassicEarly Jurassic (Hutchison and Sivam, 1992); and one in the MiddleLate Cretaceous (Harbury et al., 1990; Krahenbuhl, 1991). Harbury et al. (1990) attempted an analysis of the structural evolution of Peninsular Malaysia and suggested that major folding episodes (with angular unconformities) occurred in the Late Permian and Mid Late Cretaceous. The Late Permian event was regarded as a major orogenic mountain building phase. Evidence to support the widely reported Triassic orogenic compression (see Hutchison, 1989) was not found by Harbury et al. (1990) but the presence of deformation caused by the Indosinian Orogeny is maintained by some authors (e.g. Hutchison and Sivam, 1992). The most signicant structural discontinuity observed in Peninsular Malaysia is found between the Permian and Triassic. Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks of the peninsula are generally highly deformed and foliated, and in most cases the presence of more than one, and up to three phases of folding are evident. In the central and eastern parts of the peninsula (Chakraborty and Metcalfe, 1984), Palaeozoic rocks are multiply deformed and exhibit refolded folds. This includes dated Permian rocks, e.g. folded Permian strata at the Raub Gold Mine, Pahang, which exhibit refolded folds and have yielded Permian conodonts (Metcalfe, 1993a), and an angular unconformity, between relatively at-lying latest Triassic and Jurassic sediments and folded Permian strata, is known at Jengka Pass, Pahang. All Palaeozoic conodonts in the Western and Central Belts of Peninsular Malaysia have a colour alteration index (CAI) of 5 or higher and exhibit textural alteration typical of regional metamorphism (Metcalfe, 1993b, 2000b) In addition, these high CAI conodonts exhibit textural alteration indicative of regional metamorphism, and in some cases are themselves folded (Metcalfe, 1993b, 2000a). Regional metamorphism has also produced schists and gneisses, which commonly attained higher greenschist, and locally low amphibolite facies conditions (Hutchison, 1973b; Khoo and Tan, 1983). Triassic and younger sedimentary rocks in Peninsular Malaysia exhibit upright symmetrical or asymmetrical folds, with weak to well-developed axial planar cleavages. Multiple deformations are not observed, and conodonts from Triassic strata exhibit low CAIs (unless they are adjacent to younger granite) and exhibit only diagenetic or thermal textural alteration. White mica crystallinity values suggest that Jurassic strata experienced only prehenitepumpellyite facies conditions (Harbury et al., 1990). This indicates that there is a metamorphic hiatus present in the Malay Peninsula between the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic

I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

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Fig. 12. Sibumasu and Indochina Terranes and the BentongRaub Suture Zone (partly after Hada et al., 1999).

successions. There is therefore clear evidence of a major orogenic episode in Peninsular Malaysia at about the PermianTriassic transition level. The timing of this orogenic episode corresponds well to the timing of granitoid generation, the collision of the Sibumasu and Indochina terranes, and closure of the PalaeoTethys Ocean to produce the BentongRaub Suture Zone, based on other evidence. Late TriassicEarly Jurassic Indosinian deformation is only weakly developed in Peninsular Malaysia, and is not regarded here as being related to the BentongRaub Suture Zone, but to the collision of amalgamated Sibumasu/Indochina/ South China with North China along the Qinling Dabei Suture Zone and to closure of Permo-Triassic rift basins along the Song Da zone in Laos and Vietnam. Middle to Upper Cretaceous deformation involved SWNE shortening and is not related to the Bentong Raub Suture Zone.

5. Conclusions: evolution and age of the BentongRaub Suture Zone The BentongRaub Suture Zone represents the main Palaeo-Tethys Ocean which opened in the Devonian when the Indochina, Tarim, South China and North China continental terranes separated from Gondwana. The Devonian opening of the Palaeo-Tethys is indicated by the oldest oceanic sediments (ribbon-bedded cherts) in the suture zone, being of Middle Devonian age (Fig. 12; and see above), coupled with major biogeographic afnity changes from Gondwana afnity to Cathaysian afnity on the separating Indochina, Tarim, South China and North China blocks. In addition, a documented counter-clockwise rotation of Gondwana about a rotation pole in Australia in the Late Devonian (Chen et al., 1993) would complement the clock-wise rotation of the Chinese and Indochina blocks as they drifted away from Gonwana and Palaeo-Tethys opened. There is no indication of

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I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

SIBERIA KAZAKHSTAN LAURENTIA

EARLY CARBONIFEROUS

EARLY PERMIAN
EA

PA
N

GO

ANA NDW

LAN

(a)
KAZ

(b)
30

NC T

30

T NC

PA

LAURENTIA

PALAEOTETHYS

YS I TH E -T QS AEO L PA
S QI L

SC

SC QS I

EO LA PA

N
G

-T ET HY
30
S WB

WC

WC

EA

AUSTRALIA 30

QI L INDIA

AFRICA

INDIA ANTARCTICA

AUSTRALIA

60

PA

MIDDLE-LATE PERMIAN
EA

PA
N

LATE TRIASSIC (d) NC

EA

(c)

30

SG WC QI ME

SC I S
SO

30

NC

Subduction Zone Land Shallow Sea Deep Sea

Fig. 13. Palaeographic reconstructions for (A) Carboniferous; (B) Early Permian; (C) MiddleLate Permian; and (D) Late Triassic, showing relative positions of the East and Southeast Asian terranes and distribution of land and sea. Present day outlines are for reference only. Distribution of land and sea for Chinese blocks principally from Wang (1985). Land and sea distribution for Pangea/Gondwanaland compiled from Golonka et al. (1994); and for Australia from Struckmeyer and Totterdell (1990). SC South China; T Tarim; I Indochina; NC North China; S Sibumasu; WB West Burma; QI Qiangtang; L Lhasa; WC Western Cimmerian Continent. After Metcalfe (1998).

subduction processes taking place beneath Sibumasu or Indochina in the Devonian. The Devonian was a period of growth for the Palaeo-Tethys. In latest Devonian or Early Carboniferous times, the Indochina Terrane collided with South China along the Song Ma Suture Zone to form an amalgamated super-terrane that has been called Cathaysialand (Fig. 13).

PA
N

CIM

ER IA

PALAEOTETHYS
N
ON TIN EN

SC I
B-R S uture

PA

WC

0
East Malaya Volcanic Arc

ME

QI

-TE

TH

SO -TE
L

S TH YS
WB

Peusangan-Palepat Volcanic Arc

YS

G
EA

30

L WB
30

Subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys, represented by the BentongRaub Suture Zone, may have begun in the Carboniferous, with evidence for this being abundant volcanics in continental margin Carboniferous sediments in eastern Peninsular Malaysia, and the presence of a Carboniferous volcanic arc through Thailand and Western Yunnan. Northwards

EA

I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712

709

SIBUMASU
0

Bentong-Raub Suture Zone

Semanggol Foredeep Basin Semantan Volcaniclastic Forearc Basin Lanchang Acidic Volcanics

INDOCHINA

Kodiang/Chuping Lst

50 km

MIDDLE-LATE TRIASSIC
0

Main Range S-Type Granites

250 km (approx.)

SIBUMASU
0

Accretionary Complex

East Malaya Andesitic Volcanic Arc

INDOCHINA
I-Type Granitoids

Kodiang/Chuping Lst

MIDDLE-LATE PERMIAN
50 km

SIBUMASU
0 Glacial-marine diamictites

Accretionary Complex

Palaeo-Tethys Ocean

Shallow-marine Limestones

East Malaya Volcanic Arc

INDOCHINA

I-Type Granitoids

LOWER PERMIAN
50 km

Fig. 14. Conceptual cross-sections illustrating formation of the BentongRaub Suture by subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean and collision of the Sibumasu and Indochina terranes.

subduction of the Palaeo-Tethys beneath Indochina during the Permian and Triassic is recorded by I-type granitoids and intermediate to acidic volcanics of the East Malaya Volcanic Arc (see above). The (current) west-facing polarity of this subduction system is indicated by tectonic vergence data, position of the volcanic arc and distribution of granitoid plutons (see above). The Sibumasu Terrane, as part of the elongate Cimmerian Continental strip, separated from the margin of Gondwana in late Lower Permian times. During the remainder of the Permian and Triassic Sibumasu drifted rapidly northwards, as documented by changes in biogeography and palaeolatitudinal position (Fig. 13). During Permo-Triassic times, subduction beneath Indochina constructed an accretionary complex of offscraped lange, and also produced the oceanic sediments and me East Malaya Volcanic Arc and I-type granitoids. With time, the accretionary complex built up into an outer arc

on which shallow-marine limestones formed, some of lange, and the which were incorporated as clasts into me volcanic arc migrated westwards. Onset of A-type subduction commenced around the PermianTriassic boundary, with the leading edge of the Sibumasu Block being underthrust beneath the leading edge of Indochina (Fig. 14). In the Triassic, thick volcaniclastic sediments lled the forearc/ intra-arc Semantan basin which corresponds to the Central Belt or basin of Peninsular Malaysia and turbiditic rhythmites and conglomerates of the Semanggol Formation were deposited in the Semanggol foredeep basin, on top of Permian and Triassic cherts and pelagic limestones.

Acknowledgements The Australian Research Council is gratefully acknowledged for continued funding for research in

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I. Metcalfe / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 18 (2000) 691712 (Ed.). Devonian to Triassic Tethys in Western Yunnan, China. China University of Geosciences Press, Wuhan, pp. 106112. Fontaine, H., Gafoer, S. (Eds.), 1989. The pre-Tertiary fossils of Sumatra and their environments. CCOP Technical Paper 19, 356pp. Gasperon, M., Varne, R., 1995. Sumatran granitoids and their relationship to Southeast Asian terranes. Tectonophysics 251, 277299. Golonka, J., Ross, M.I., Scotese, C.R., 1994. Phanerozoic paleogeographic and paleoclimatic modeling maps. Pangea: Global Environments and Resources, Embry, A.F., Beauchamp, B., Glass, D.J. (Eds.). Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 17, 147. Hada, S., Bunopas, S., Ishii, K., Yoshikura, S., 1999. Rift-drift history and the amalgamation of Shan-Thai and Indochina/East Malaya Blocks. In: Metcalfe, I. (Ed.). Gondwana dispersion and Asian accretion. Final Results Volume for IGCP Project 321Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 6787. Haile, N.S., Stauffer, P.H., Krishnan, D., Lim, T.P., Ong, G.B., 1977. Palaeozoic red beds and radiolarian chert: reinterpretation of their relationships in the Bentong and Raub areas, west Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia. Geological Society of Malaysia Bulletin 8, 4560. Harbury, N.A., Jones, M.E., Audley-Charles, M.G., Metcalfe, I., Mohamad, K.R., 1990. Structural evolution of Mesozoic Peninsular Malaysia. Journal of the Geological Society of London 147, 1126. Hutchison, C.S., 1973a. Tectonic evolution of Sundaland: a Phanerozoic synthesis. Geological Society of Malaysia Bulletin 6, 6186. Hutchison, C.S., 1973b. Metamorphism. In: Gobbett, D.J., Hutchison, C.S. (Eds.). Geology of the Malay Peninsula. Wiley, New York, pp. 253 303. Hutchison, C.S., 1975. Ophiolite in Southeast Asia. Geological Society of America Bulletin 86, 797806. Hutchison, C.S., 1977. Granite emplacement and tectonic subdivision of Peninsular Malaysia. Geological Society of Malaysia Bulletin 9, 187 207. Hutchison, C.S., 1983. Multiple Mesozoic SnWSb granitoids of Southest Asia. In: Roddick, J.A. (Ed.), Circum-Pacic Plutonism Terranes. Geological Society of America Memoir, vol. 159, pp. 3560. Hutchison, C.S., 1989. Geological Evolution of South-East Asia. Clarendon Press, Oxford (368pp.). Hutchison, C.S., 1993. Gondwana and Cathaysian blocks, Palaeotethys sutures and Cenozoic tectonics in south-east Asia. Geologisches Rundschau 82, 388405. Hutchison, C.S., Sivam, S.P., 1992. Discussion on structural evolution of Mesozoic Peninsular Malaysia. Journal of the Geological Society of London 149, 679680. Igo, H., 1981. Permian conodont biostratigraphy of Japan. Palaeontological Society of Japan Special Papers 24, 150. Ishiga, H., 1990. Palaeozoic radiolarians. In: Ichikawa, K., Mizutani, S., Hara, I., Hada, S., Yao, A. (Eds.), Pre-Cretaceous Terranes of Japan. IGCP Project 224. Osaka City University, Japan, pp. 285295. Jaaafar bin Ahmad, 1976. The geology and mineral resources of the Karak and Temerloh areas, Pahang. District memoir of the Geological Survey of Malaysia, vol. 15, 138pp. Jones, C.R., 1968. Lower Paleozoic rocks of Malay Peninsula. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 52, 12591278. Jones, C.R., 1970. On a Lower Devonian fauna from Pahang, West Malaysia. Geological Society of Malaysia Bulletin 3, 6375. Jones, C.R., 1973. Lower Palaeozoic. In: Gobbett, D.J., Hutchison, C.S. (Eds.). Geology of the Malay Peninsula. Wiley, New York. Katili, J.A., 1973. Geochronology of west Indonesia and its implications on plate tectonics. Tectonophysics 19, 195212. Khoo, T.T., 1993. Geology of eastwest transect of Peninsular Malaysia: introductory essay. In: Gondwana Dispersion and Asian Accretion IGCP 321, Third International Symposium and Field Excursion, Guidebook for Field Excursion, pp. 134. Khoo, T.T., Tan, B.K., 1983. Geological evolution of Peninsular Malaysia. Proceedings of the Workshop on Stratigraphic Correlation of Thailand and Malaysia, vol. 1, pp. 253290. Khoo, T.T., Tan, B.K., 1993. Petrogenetic signicance of chromian spinel from serpentinites in the Bahau area, BentongRaub zone, Peninsular

East and Southeast Asia. Prof Ken-ichi Ishii and Prof Tomoo Ozawa kindly conrmed fusulinid identications. Charles Hutchison, Dietrich Helmcke, Mike Crow and Tony Barber are thanked for their thorough reviews of the manuscript. This paper forms a contribution to IGCP Project 411.

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