REGIONAL SETTING

Tuesday, 27 February 2024 9:10 am

REGIONAL SETTING : PH interact with Pacific, Eurasian and Indo‐Australian

PACIFIC PLATE ‐ 150Ma
- 43 Myr; 50dg clockwise rotation (NNW to WNW)
- 107 mm/yr motion
EURASIAN PLATE ‐ over 11, 000km long
- Fixed since 50 Ma
- 3mm/yr motion
INDO‐AUSTRILIAN ‐ 150 Ma (separation of India and Aus)
-

MARGINAL BASIN
• Huatung Basin
Opening age: Early Cretaceous
Origin: trapped fragment of either the protoSouth China Sea or the New
Guinea Basin
• West Ph Basin
Opening age: Eocene
Origin: either trapped major ocean lithosphere or related with back‐arc
basin formation
• Molucca Sea
Opening age: Jurassic(?)
Origin: trapped Indian Ocean lithosphere
• Celebes Sea
Opening age: Eocene
Origin: related with the WPB
• SE Sulu Sea
Opening age: Early Miocene
Origin: Back‐arc basin of the Cagayan de Sulu Ridge
• NW Sulu Sea
Opening age: none
Origin: Continental crust basement
• South China Sea
Opening age: Early Oligocene
Origin: Extension driven by the proto‐SCS slab pull; subsequent extension
due to the collision of India and Eurasia

BASIN OF THE PHILIPPINES SEA PLATE PHILIPPINE TRENCHES

• West Ph Sea • East Luzon Trough
• Parece Vela Basin → very young; no associated volcanic arc;
• Shikoku Basin • Ph Trench
• Marianas Basin → shallow Benioff zone, 250 km long; propagates to the south;
• Cotabato Trench
COLLISION ZONE → young; poorly developed Benioff Zone; volcanic arc; Cotabato fault seems
• Taiwan ‐ continent ‐ arc collision to link the Trench to Negros Trench
between PSP and Taiwan that started • Sulu Trench
4 Ma. • Negros Trench
• Mindoro‐Panay ‐ southern end of → oceanic crust of Sulu Sea Basin is consumed here; volcanic arc
Manila Trench transforms into an arc‐ • Palawan Trench
continent collisional deformation • Manila Trench
within Mindoro → subduction of oceanic crust of South China Sea under the Luzon arc;
• Moluccas Sea ‐ active collision of Benioff Zone is steep to the south, flattens to the north; Bataan volcanic
Sangihe and Halmahera arcs. arc

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PH GEOLOGY
Tuesday, 27 February 2024 10:14 am

• Origin of Basement Rocks:

○ Basement rocks in the Philippines fall into three categories: continental, oceanic
(ophiolite), and arc.
○ Permian to Late Oligocene
○ Continental basement rocks likely originated from mainland Asia before the opening of
the South China Sea and collided with the Philippine Mobile Belt.
○ Oceanic basement rocks (ophiolites) originated from different oceanic spreading centers
and were emplaced in various ways.
• Formation of Sedimentary Basins in the Neogene:
○ Late Oligocene over diverse basement rocks.
○ Initial deposits were limestones, followed by subsidence leading to thick turbidite
deposits in the Middle Miocene.
• Magmatism since Cretaceous:
○ Volcanic activity and igneous intrusions have been ongoing since the Cretaceous period,
with over 20 active volcanoes currently in the Philippines.
• Miocene Collision:
○ The Palawan‐Mindoro microcontinent collided with the Philippine Mobile Belt in the
Miocene.

• METAMORPHIC ROCKS
○ Continental Affinity, pre‐Cretaceous
○ Island Arc affinity, post‐Jurassic
• MAGMATIC ARCS
○ Ancient arcs ‐ do not correspond to active
subduction zones
 Cretaceous‐Paleogene; Cebu, Bohol, Sierra
Madre, Quezon, Camarines Norte, Samar,
Zamboanga, Mindanao
 Oligocene‐Miocene: more distinct
magmatic belts; Cordillera, S Sierra Madre,
Marinduque, Negros, Panay, Bohol, Cebu,
Masbate, Zamboanga, S Cotabato, CN and
EN Mindanao
○ Active Volcanic arcs ‐ associated with active
subduction zones
 Luzon Volcanic Arc ; Manila Trench Other Volcanic Zones
 East PH arc (Bicol‐Leyte) ; PH trench • NE trending Macolod Corridor – Taal,
 Negros‐Panay Arc; Negros Trench Makiling‐Malepunyo, Banahaw, Laguna
 Sulu‐Zamboanga Arc; Sulu Trench de Bai
 Cotabato Arc; Cotabato Trench • NNW trending Central Mindanao
○ Central Mindanao Chain ‐ Mt Apo, Misamis Volcanic Zone – Ragang, Makaturing,
• OPHIOLITES ‐ represent basement on which magmatic Malindang, Katanglad, Musuan, Hibok‐
arcs are developed hibok, Mt. Parker, Lanao volcanoes
(partial melting of detached slab
beneath Mindanao?)

PH OPHIOLITE BELT
1. Casiguran Ophiolite Belt
2. Zambales Ophiolite Belt
3. Angat Ophiolite Belt
4. Eastern Bicol–Eastern Mindanao
Ophiolite Belt
5. Antique Ophiolite Belt
6. Western Bicol–Eastern Leyte
Ophiolite Belt
7. Palawan Ophiolite Belt
8. Zamboanga–Sulu Ophiolite Belt
9. Central Mindanao Ophiolites Belt

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MINERALIZATION LOCALITY ADAKITE LOCALITY

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SEDIMENTARY BASINS and FAULTS
Tuesday, 27 February 2024 10:50 am

Ilocos‐Central Valley Late Oligocene 8,000m

Cagayan Valley Early Miocene 8,100m
Southern Luzon Eocene 4,600m
Mindoro Late Eocene
Iloilo Middle Miocene 5,000m
Visayan Sea Eocene 4,000m
Samar Eocene
Agusan‐Davao Early Miocene 12,000m
Cotabato Middle Miocene 8,000m

• Sed basin orientation N‐S, except;

• Mindoro and S Luzon NW
• Panay and Visayan NE

Thickness of the sedimentary cover ranges from

4,000 to 12,000 meters while their surface area is
between 1 million m² and 4.7 million m²

PHILIPPINE FAULT (Willis, 1937) "PH Fault Zone (PFZ)"
 Type: Sinistral or Left‐lateral
 Age – not more than 5 Ma
 Length ‐ 1,200 km (Luzon to E Mindanao)
 Slip rate – 2‐3 cm/yr.
 Mechanism – PF functions in a shear partitioning
environment whereby it accommodates a
component of the oblique convergence between
the PSP and Philippine archipelago (Fitch 1972).
PH FAULT SEGMENT
→ Northern segment – transpressional regime
where movement is both strike‐slip & thrust
faulting. North of Dingalan, it branches into
several N‐S strike‐slip faults
→ Central segment – Bondoc Peninsula to Leyte,
left‐lateral; simple structure
→ Southern segment – probably reactivated old
normal faults related to formation of Agusan‐
Davao Basin

PH ACTIVE FAULT *Philippine Fault earthquakes (pena 2010)

□ Marikina Valley Fault " Valley Fault System"
→ NE Right Lateral March 17, 1973. Ms 7.3, Ragay Gulf
○ E Metro Manila to Tagaytay Ridgey July 16, 1990. Ms 7.8, Cabanatuan
□ Macolod Corridor May 6, 1991. Ms 5.8, southern Leyte
→ NE Striking Fault
□ Lubang‐Verde Passage Fault System
→ Strike‐slip
□ Mindorr/Aglubang Fault
→ NW Striking‐slip
○ Northern Part of Mindoro
□ Sibuyan Sea Fault
→ NE Right lateral and Normal
○ Sibuyan sea and E Mindoro Is.
○ Transtentional tectonic regime
□ Legaspi Lineament
→ SE Striking‐slip
○ Pasacao, Ragay Gulf to Lake Bato to Legaspi
○ Zone of deformation MOTION VECTORS
□ Tablas Lineament separates the Palawan‐Mindoro IN THE PH
Microcontinental Block and the
→ NE Striking‐slip  Zamboanga: 2±.15 cm/yr W
Philippine Mobile Belt
○ Tablas Is. and S Mindoro Is  Virac Island: 7±1.7 cm/yr NW
○ Zone of deformation  NW Panay: clockwise 10±.5e‐08
□ Mindanao Fault rad/yr
→ NW Right‐Lateral separates the Daguma  NW Leyte: compressional E‐W
Range and the Cotabato
○ Eastern Mindanao Basin 150e‐09/yr
□ Offshore Cebu‐Bohol Faults  NW Panay: extensional NW‐SE
→ Primarily Strike‐slip and some normal and  Philippine Fault: 2 cm/yr in
reverse. Mindanao

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