Sulawesi

Sulawesi and the evolution of the Makassar Straits

The Makassar Strait has long been recognised as a zone of major geological importance. It is situated between major mountain belts of western Sulawesi and fold belts of east Borneo and is the site of the original Wallace’s Line separating Australian and Eurasian faunas and floras. Lower crust (and possibly sub-crustal mantle) basement is exposed in west Sulawesi and there has been major late Tertiary contraction. The main depocentre contains up to 17 km of sediment and on both sides there are major and potential hydrocarbon containing basins.

Current projects:

Completed projects:

Recent Papers –

Max Webb et al., 2020. Isotopic mapping reveals the location of crustal fragments along a long-lived convergent plate boundary. Lithos.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2020.105687

Max Webb et al., 2020. The history of Cenozoic magmatism and collision in NW New Guinea – New insights into the tectonic evolution of the northernmost margin of the Australian Plate. Gondwana Research.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2019.12.010

Amy Gough et al., 2020. Mid-Cenozoic fluvio-deltaic to marine environments of the Salin Sub-basin, Central Myanmar. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.104143

Recent News –

Amy Gough and Max Webb attended the Restech 2.0 Virtual Reservoir Conference. Amy Gough presented new SEARG research on the pitfalls of light mineral studies for sedimentary provenance in tropical climates.

Amy Gough was awarded an honorary research fellowship of the British Geological Survey and continues to foster collaborative relationships between SEARG and the BGS.