Final Year Project

1.7.1 Miri Formation (Middle Miocene Miri)

Miri formation can be subdivided into two parts namely (I) Upper Miri which
estimated thickness ranges from 472 to 1310 meters ( 1550 to 4300 ft) and (2) Lower Miri
which estimated thickness ranges from 168 to I 015 meters (550 to 3330 ft). The
maximum total thickness is estimated to exceed 1830 meters (6000 ft). Middle Miocene
Miri Formation crops out around Miri provides surface analogue for the subsurface
sediments of the offshore West Baram Delta. Its outcrops are restricted to the narrow
coastal region around Miri. Liechti et. at (1960) and Wilford (1961) subdivided the
formation into Lower and Upper unit due to lithological differences and small benthonic
foraminifera assemblages.
The Lower Miri unit consists of interbedded shales and sandstones, and passes
downwards into the underlying Setap Shale Formation. The Upper Miri Unit is more
arenaceous. consisting of rapidly recurrent and irregular sandstone-shale alternations with
the sandstone beds passing gradually into clayey sandstone and sandy or silt shale. Figure
1.4 shows the one of the outcrop in Miri Field which is Canada Hill outcrop.

Figure 1.3 A map and geologic cross-section of the Miri field, originally drawn by
the Sarawak Shell geologist P. von Schumacher in 1941 and revised by other geologists
since then. (Illustration: Rasoul Sorkhabi)