TECTO-127337; No of Pages 20

Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx

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Tectonophysics

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Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust

Benjamin Sautter a,b,, Manuel Pubellier a, Pierre Jousselin c, Paolo Dattilo c, Yannick Kerdraon c,
Chee Meng Choong b, David Menier b,d
a
Laboratoire de Gologie, Ecole Normale Suprieure, Paris, France
b
Department of Geosciences, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 32610 Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
c
TOTAL, Tour Coupole, 2, Place de la Coupole, F-92078 Paris, La Defense CEDEX, France
d
Universit de Bretagne Sud, Vannes, France

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Sedimentary basins often develop above internal zones of former orogenic belts. We hereafter consider the Malay
Received 13 February 2016 Peninsula (Western Sunda) as a crustal high separating two regions of stretched continental crust; the Andaman/
Received in revised form 18 November 2016 Malacca basins in the western side and the Thai/Malay basins in the east. Several stages of rifting have been doc-
Accepted 28 November 2016
umented thanks to extensive geophysical exploration. However, little is known on the correlation between off-
Available online xxxx
shore rifted basins and the onshore continental core. In this paper, we explore through mapping and seismic
Keywords:
data, how these structures reactivate pre-existing Mesozoic basement heterogeneities.
Sundaland The continental core appears to be relatively undeformed after the Triassic Indosinian orogeny. The thick crustal
Malay Peninsula mega-horst is bounded by complex shear zones (Ranong, Klong Marui and Main Range Batholith Fault Zones) ini-
Rifting tiated during the Late Cretaceous/Early Paleogene during a thick-skin transpressional deformation and later
Reactivation of orogen reactivated in the Late Paleogene. The extension is localized on the sides of this crustal backbone along a strip
Paleogene Basins where earlier Late Cretaceous deformation is well expressed. To the west, the continental shelf is underlain by
three major crustal steps which correspond to wide crustal-scale tilted blocks bounded by deep rooted counter
regional normal faults (Mergui Basin). To the east, some pronounced rift systems are also present, with large
tilted blocks (Western Thai, Songkhla and Chumphon basins) which may reect large crustal boudins. In the cen-
tral domain, the extension is limited to isolated narrow N-S half grabens developed on a thick continental crust,
controlled by shallow rooted normal faults, which develop often at the contact between granitoids and the host-
rocks. The outer limits of the areas affected by the crustal boudinage mark the boundary towards the large and
deeper Andaman basin in the west and the Malay and Pattani basins in the east.
At a regional scale, the rifted basins resemble N-S en-echelon structures along large NW-SE shear bands. The
rifting is accommodated by large low angle normal faults (LANF) running along crustal morphostructures such
as broad folds and Mesozoic batholiths. The deep Andaman, Malay and Pattani basins seem to sit on weaker
crust inherited from Gondwana-derived continental blocks (Burma, Sibumasu, and Indochina). The set of narrow
elongated basins in the core of the Region (Khien Sa, Krabi, and Malacca basins) suffered from a relatively lesser
extension.
2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction
The western side of the continental core of Sundaland consists of an
elongated N-S peninsula (Fig. 1a) bordered by wide Cenozoic Basins
(Fig. 1b). If the thick basins and hyper-stretched crust are located in
the region of Andaman Sea and Pattani-Malay-Penyu basins, the basins
located within the Peninsula are smaller and appear separated by mag-
matic bodies and broad folds. On both sides of the Peninsula, wide areas
Corresponding author at: Laboratoire de Gologie, Ecole Normale Suprieure, Paris,
France.
E-mail addresses: sautter.benjamin@gmail.com, benjamin_sautter@hotmail.fr
(B. Sautter).
consist of a series of half-grabens separated by horsts (Fig. 2). The orig-
inal basement highs referred hereafter as pre-rifting setting are the re-
sult of a long history of early and late Mesozoic collisions leading to
crustal thickening associated with both island arc and post-collision
magmatism (Gardiner et al., 2015; Hutchison, 2013; Metcalfe, 2013;
Morley, 2012). The migration of the Indian Plate and its possible interac-
tions with the western margin of Sunda plate during the Late Cretaceous
to Paleogene might have played an important role in the observed de-
formations. The rifting style varies throughout the region and is condi-
tioned by pre-existing basement fabrics reactivated as crustal
discontinuities during the Cenozoic.
We hereafter present eldwork and mapping data across the Malay
Peninsula, together with a review of the state of the art of the pre-rifting

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.11.035
0040-1951/ 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Please cite this article as: Sautter, B., et al., Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust, Tectonophysics (2016), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.11.035
2 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx

Fig. 1. Structural maps of the western Margin of Sunda Plate in the present day Geography. a) By the end of the Late Cretaceous/Paleogene Orogeny. The pink area represents the uplifted
core of the orogeny, corresponding approximately to the Malay Peninsula. From North to South: DI. Doi Inthanon; Kl. Klaeng Ductile core; BRSZ. Bentong Raub Suture Zone; R. Ranong
ductile core; Kh. Khanom Metamorphic Core Complexe; P. Phanom ductile core; RF. Ranong Fault; KMF. Klong Marui Fault; S. Stong Complexe; KLFZ Kuala Lumpur Fault Zone
b) rifting setting in the Cenozoic. The faults pattern is represented at Paleogene period. From North to South: SF. Sagaing Fault; MPF. Mae Ping Fault; TPF. Three Pagodas Fault TB. Thai
Basins; EAB. East Andaman Basin; CB. Chumphon Basin; SEBF. Seawell Rise East Bounding Fault; PTB. Pattani Basins; KB. Krabi Basin; SSF. South Sagaing Fault; WAF. West Andaman
Fault; MAB. Malay Basin; MB. Mergui Basin; STPF. South Three Pagodas Fault; MLB. Malacca Basins; PB. Penyu Basin. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend,
the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

setting, with a synthesis of published geochronological data including
ssion tracks to constrain the timing of the deformation at a regional
scale. Unpublished 2D seismic data from the Mergui and Andaman
Shelf and the western gulf of Thailand tied to well data allow us to con-
strain the rifting mechanism and timing. In this paper, we aim at dem-
onstrating the role of the transition from the late stage of an orogeny
with the development of subsequent continental rifting. The extension
as a consequence of crustal thickening is debated. We propose a
model in which the evolution of the rifting with time and the
localisation of the main depocentres is conditioned by two main causes:
1) the presence and migration of a free edge (e.g. path of India), 2) the
presence of a strong backbone (core of the orogeny) which act as a bar-
rier separating two kinds of basin geometries; to the west, narrow elon-
gated basins conditioned by the obliquity of the convergence
(subduction) and to the east, basins isolated from the subduction effects
with deformation controlled by internal forces of Sunda's core.
2. Pre-rifting setting: Mesozoic to Paleogene deformation of the
western margin of Sundaland
The post-Indosinian morphology of the Thai/Malay Peninsula was
deformed during the Mesozoic and Early Paleogene by two major
events. The closure of the Paleo-Tethys led to the emplacement of
epizonal I-Type subduction related Late Permian granitoids running
from Singapore to the East Himalayan Syntaxis (Hutchison, 1977)
(Fig. 1a). Subduction ended during the Indosinian Orogeny when the
Sibumasu Block docked against Indochina. In Malaysia this event led
to 1) high Greenschist and locally low Amphibolite metamorphism con-
ned to the areas covered by the suture, and 2) Late Triassic/Early
Jurassic mesozonal anatexic granitoids (Hutchison, 1977; Metcalfe,
2000, 2013). Elsewhere, the metamorphism is mild and only represent-
ed by cleavage fractures. These granitoids constitute the Main Range
province and run parallel to both the Permian volcanic arc and the Mid-
dle Triassic Bentong-Raub suture zone. Basement sedimentary rocks are
metamorphosed to Greenshist facies and deformed by kilometric-scale
folds (Tjia and Almashoor, 1996). The host rocks are schistose and ex-
hibit folds with N-S trending hinges. Geomorphological and eld evi-
dences suggest E-W contraction at the time of deformation (Md Ali
et al., 2016; Metcalfe, 2006, 2013). The fault spacing and the folds
width (km scale) suggest thin skin tectonics along an east-dipping shal-
low decollement (Ridd, 2013). East of the Indosinian Bentong-Raub su-
ture zone, a major shear zone hosting the Malay, Penyu, and Khmer
basins marks the boundary of the stable continental core of Sundaland
(Khorat/Khao Kong basin/Natuna) where thick continental to locally
marine Khorat sediments were deposited during the Mesozoic (Fyhn
et al., 2010).

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 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx 3

Fig. 2. a) E-W cross Section throughout the Cenozoic basins of the Study Area with b) its correlative stratigraphy established from 2D seismic data and unpublished well data in the Mergui,
Chumphon and Nakhon basins. The stratigraphy of the Malay Basin was modied from Mansor et al. (2014), for the East Andaman Basin modied from Morley (2015a,b) and for the
Pattani Basin from Morley and Racey (2011). WAFWest Andaman Fault; SEBF. Seawell Rise East Bounding Fault; SSF. South Sagaing Fault; MR. Mergui Ridge; CR. Central Ridge; RR.
Ranong Ridge; RFRanong Fault; KMF. Khlong Marui Fault; STPF. South Three Pagodas Fault; SMPF. South Mae Ping Fault. Location of the section on Fig. 1b.

Despite the intensity of the early Mesozoic Indosinian deformation,
the present day morphology of the peninsula is the result of Latest
Cretaceous/Paleogene thick-skinned deformation. This episode follows
a widespread thermal anomaly and minor faulting activity with the em-
placement of several isolated plutons between 95 Ma and 75 Ma
(Cobbing et al., 1986; Schwartz et al., 1995) and recrystallizations in
older plutons (Hosking, 1973). In Southeast Asia, this widespread ther-
mal event may result from the docking of multiple continental or ocean-
ic terranes such as Burma, Woyla, Java, Luconia, and Gascoigne (Barber,
2000; Barber and Crow, 2009; Gardiner et al., 2015; Gibbons et al., 2013,
2015). Such docking process, when documented may generate locally
only moderate deformation such as in the Philippines (Pubellier et al.,
2003).
In terms of deformation, in the south of Malaysia, the Kuala
Lumpur-Bukit Tinggi fault zone was active in the Campanian (Figs.
4, 3.5N/101.5E). A ductile shear has been established through K/
Ar dating of granite mylonites at 83.6 4.2 Ma with a left-lateral
motion (Harun, 2002). In southern Thailand, the Ranong fault is sup-
posed to be active before 81 Ma (Kanjanapayont et al., 2012;
Watkinson et al., 2011). In northern Thailand, monazites from and
orthogneiss of the Doi Inthanon yield ages of 72 and 84 Ma
(Dunning et al., 1995), attributed to a thermal overprint after the
Indosinian event. Younger intrusions took place as shown by datings
of zircon cores from leucogranites at 78.6 0.7 Ma in the Klaeng
Fault zone (Kanjanapayont et al., 2013). A recent study of monazites
from the Doi Inthanon and Doi Suthep yielded an age cluster at
8367 Ma interpreted as Indosinian basement reworked in the
Cretaceous (Gardiner et al., 2016). This widespread thermal anomaly
seems to have occurred simultaneously in the whole region.
Subsequent to this episode of deformation, a major event of crustal
thickening occurred in the Paleogene. This deformation affected the
whole region and is represented by folding of the sedimentary units, ex-
humation of intrusives, and a widespread thermal anomaly (Franois
et al., 2015; Ghani et al., 2013; Hutchison, 1977; Md Ali et al., 2016;
Morley, 2012). The Mesozoic sedimentary basins together with their
Paleozoic basement were inverted and shortened with broad folds
(20 km in width) accommodated by deep rooted faults (Figs. 3 and 4).
Along the Peninsula the sedimentary cover was folded together with
Indosinian granitoids and was intruded by syn-tectonic Late
Cretaceous/Paleogene (7550 Ma) plutons (e.g. Trang Basin, Hat Yai,
Surat Thani regions in Fig. 3). Shortening associated with major shear
zones characterized by positive ower structures (Morley, 2004;
Watkinson et al., 2008, 2011) was accommodated by N-S thrusts
branching on NE-SW and NW-SE strike slip faults (Fig. 1a) that pro-
duced a diffuse complex network of faults (Morley, 2004). The timing
of some of these faults has been constrained by several authors between
the Paleocene and the early Eocene (Harun, 2002; Kanjanapayont et al.,
2013; Watkinson et al., 2011). A diachronism seems to appear between
the faults of the south of the Peninsula and Indochina in the North.
Among the major shear zones, in the centre of the Malay Peninsula in
Thailand, the dextral Ranong shear zone (Fig. 3), was active through a
ductile shear between 59 and 49 Ma testied by sheared migmatites
(Watkinson et al., 2008, 2011). The Klaeng fault zone east of Bangkok
was active in the Eocene via sinistral ductile shear (Kanjanapayont
et al., 2013) whereas the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas faults, were active
as sinistral ductile shear zones between 40 and 30 Ma (Lacassin et al.,
1997; Morley et al., 2007; Nantasin et al., 2012). All the faults mentioned
above were episodically reactivated in the Cenozoic as brittle faults with
opposite senses of shear (Morley et al., 2007, 2011; Smith et al., 2007).
Among the different provinces of the previously accreted Sibumasu
Block, the Phuket-Slate Belt Terrane (Mitchell, 1992; Ridd and
Watkinson, 2013) appears as a displaced tectonic sliver composed of a
Fold-and-Thrust Belt (Fig. 1a). It lays as a sliver on the western margin
of the block from Phuket to Mandalay, and was deformed in the Late
Cretaceous, after the intrusion of I-type subduction related granitoids
of the Western Province. Another set of syn-tectonic tin-bearing with
a S-type signature granites, also intruded the belt and are attributed to
slab detachment in the Latest Cretaceous (Mitchell, 1977; Beckinsale

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Fig. 3. Structural map of the central part of the Malay Peninsula (Southern Thailand). The black stars represent locations of outcrops of Figs. 13 and 15. See Fig. 4 for colour caption. BAB.
Bukit Arang Basin; KB. Krabi Basin; KP. Khao Phanom ductile core; KSB. Khien Sa Basin; NSTR. Nakhon Si Thammarat Range; SC. Shell Cemetery; Note the E-W faults in the granites that
cross cut the conjugate NW-SE and NE-SW faults, especially in the northern part of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Range, southwest of Khanom (8.59N/99100E).

et al., 1979; Pollard et al., 1995). More recent studies consider the pres- faults; NW-SE (Mae Ping and Three Pagodas faults) and NE-SW (Ranong
ence of these two strips of granites of different geochemistry as paired and Klong Marui). The widespread occurrence of isolated Cretaceous
belts representing an Andean type margin (Gardiner et al., 2015). The plutons and their probable meta-sedimentary protoliths reects the re-
shape of these batholiths is controlled by the trend of regional wrench gional thermal anomaly.

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Fig. 4. Synthetic Structural map of Southern Malay Peninsula (NW Peninsular Malaysia).BAB. Bukit Arang Basin; BBF. Bok Bak Fault; BRSZ. Bentong Raub Suture Zone; BtB Batu Arang Basin;
KL. Kuala Lumpur; KLFZ Kuala Lumpur Fault Zone. The Black rectangle marks the location of Fig. 5.

The Early Jurassic East Sibumasu province extends from Singapore to
the East Himalayan Syntaxis. Its backbone is the Main Range Malaysian
batholith exhumed between 80 Ma and 60 Ma according to ssion
tracks data (Cottam et al., 2013; Krahenbuhl, 1991; Kwan et al., 1992;
Liew and McCulloch, 1985). It also encompasses the granitic strips of
southern and western Thailand (Fig. 1a). This province has been affect-
ed by E-W shortening resulting in conjugate sets of brittle fractures.
Paleozoic and Mesozoic series are folded at a broad scale (~ 20 km)
(Tjia, 1996; Sautter and Pubellier, 2015), with granite occupying
the core of most anticlines. The plutons have the same dimensions as -
and run parallel to - the folds affecting the sediments suggesting an
exhumation by folding during a compressional stage of deformation.
This is consistent with observations on the deep structure of batholiths
and implies that a laccolith and/or sill shape may be common (Petford
et al., 2000; Taylor, 2007). We propose that the probable laccolith
shape of the Indosinian Main Range granitoids allow them to be folded
together with intruding Cretaceous plutons. This structural pattern is
illustrated in Northern Malaysia (Fig. 4). The lithologies in this region

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are dominated by broad Mesozoic plutons and folded Paleozoic sedi-
ments showing two major orientations (NNE-SSW and NW-SE). The
Main Range Batholith which runs from Malacca to Pattani over
500 km is affected by a penetrative NW-SE sigmoid cleavage whose ge-
ometry resembles large scale C\\S bands (Figs. 4 and 5a) within a N-S
dextral shear zone particularly in the central and more exhumed seg-
ment (Sautter and Pubellier, 2015). The surrounding plutons are affect-
ed by conjugate set of brittle fractures, one of which is parallel to the
cleavage and may reect the accommodation of deformation at two dif-
ferent structural depths (Figs. 4 and 5).
Zircon ssion tracks data (Krahenbuhl, 1991) document a
diachronous exhumation, with ages in the lateral isolated plutons at
10090 Ma whereas those from the main batholith are circa 70 Ma. Fea-
tures related to this compressional (transpressional?) event are sealed
by a widespread unconformity in the Palaeocene in southern
(Clements et al., 2011) and central Sundaland (Fyhn et al., 2010). Simi-
larly, the uplift that occurred between 73 and 63 Ma in Northern
Thailand led to the deposition of the alluvial fan facies of the lower
Phu Khat Formation which would therefore extend until the early Pa-
leogene as indicated by stratigraphic unconformity and apatite ssion
tracks datings (Ahrendt et al., 1993; Heggemann et al., 1994; Nulay,
2014). The transition between the Late Cretaceous/Paleogene episode
of compression and the Eocene extension is important to understand.
It is coeval with a regional metamorphic event associated with magmat-
ic intrusions.
3. From Early Paleogene compression to Late Paleogene collapse
Although regional rifting structures follow N-S trends (E-W exten-
sion), onshore eld evidences of N-S extension are ubiquitous with
many E-W short-length faults, and joints crosscutting the previous
Mesozoic features (Fig. 3). Paleogene metamorphic deformation has
been extensively described in the Thai shear zones (Ranong, KMF,
Mae Ping, Fig. 1a and b) and are well expressed along strike-slip faults
(Morley, 2004; Morley et al., 2007; Watkinson et al., 2008, 2011). In
order to better understand the regional extensional pattern, we docu-
ment the Khanom metamorphic core complex of the Central Thai
Peninsula, and discuss the extensive occurrence of large quartz dykes
seen at the edges of granitic bodies throughout Malaysia and Thailand
(Fig. 4).
3.1. The Khanom metamorphic complex
The Khanom metamorphic core is a 20 km wide dome oriented NW-
SE, east of Surat Thani city in Thailand, comprising different magmatic
and metamorphic units (Fig. 6). Its petrology was studied earlier by
(Kawakami et al., 2014) through an in situ LA-ICP-MS U-Pb on zircon
and a chemical Th-U total Pb isochron methods (CHIME) on monazite.
It is bounded by two NW-SE faults; the Khanom Fault and the Sichon
Fault (Fig. 6a) (Kosuwan, 1996; Kawakami et al., 2014). The core of
the dome is composed of a lower Ordovician granite partially recrystal-
lized during the Indosinian late orogenic stage and also showing crystal-
lization of monazite rims dated at 35.9 23.6 Ma (Paleogene)
(Kawakami et al., 2014). These magmatic bodies and Paleozoic sedi-
ments were sheared in a ductile manner between 72 13 Ma (Haad
Nai Phlao gneiss Fig. 6b) and 66 9 Ma (Laem Thong Yang gneiss,
Fig. 6d) (Kawakami et al., 2014) and accompanied with a Late
Cretaceous granite intruding the core of the dome dated at 67.5
1.3 Ma (Kawakami et al., 2014). In the eld, N-S to NNE-SSW stretching
lineation exist in the metasediments and top-to-the-south shear are ob-
served in the migmatites (Haad Nai Phlao gneiss) testifying a
Maastrichtian tectonic event. The Khao Yai Schist metamorphism has
not been dated but spectacular stretched structures have been observed
at location 149 (Fig. 6c), with a N-S lineation testifying of an E-W

Fig. 5. Conjugate fracture sets and quartz dykes. a) Structural map of the Perak Valley (NW Malaysia). Location on Fig. 4. b) Azimuth of fracture sets measured on GIS on SRTM 90 m, for the
Main Range Batholith in red and for the Kledang Range in blue. c) Strikes and dips of fracture sets measured in the eld, for the Kledang Range in blue and for the Main Range in red. On the
Map we see clearly the quartz dykes lling the conjugate sets of fractures of the granite plutons. For each zone, sets of conjugate fractures (NW-SE and NE-SW) and N-S normal faults can be
seen at a regional or local scale. Quartz dykes shown in red shapes are clogging the former fractures. The small black square on the eastern side of the Kledang range marks the location of
the map of Fig. 7. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Please cite this article as: Sautter, B., et al., Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust, Tectonophysics (2016), http://
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 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx 7

Fig. 6. Khanom metamorphic core complex. a) Local structural map. Location on Fig. 3. KF. Khanom Fault, SF. Sichon Fault. The ne red lines are stretching lineations. b) Migmatite (Haad
Nai Phlao gneiss) from the north-eastern ank of the dome at stop 144 (99.86E/9.11N). The linetation strikes N170 80E and locally testify of a right lateral shear on a steep outcrop
dipping to the East. Before exhumation, if we tilt back the surface to sub-horizontal, it gives a top-to-the-south shear rather than a strike slip. c) Stretched meta-sedimentary rocks
(Khao Yai Schist) from the western side of the dome at stop 149 (99.80E/9.14E). The lineation strikes N175 40W. It evidences an E-W shortening and N-S stretching. d) Foliated
granite (Laem Thong Yang gneiss) from the eastern ank of the dome at stop 145 (99.89E/ 9.11N). FT. Tension fractures; Gt. Granite; LcGt. Leuco-granite; S1. Shistosity; R. Riedel
fractures. The shistosity strikes N160 40E. The tension fractures strike N75 90 and show a slight right-lateral slip accompanied with Riedel fractures. The leuco-granite vein intrudes
an E-W tension fracture, cross-cutting the former N-S shistosity. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

shortening or N-S stretching. C-S fabrics indicating E-W simple shear
are also observed along the eastern coast as reported by Morley
(2012), but the ductile conditions are not clear and it may as well be at-
tributed to E-W extension in brittle-ductile transition conditions. Un-
published zircon and apatite ssion tracks of the Laem Thong Yang
gneiss at this specic location yielded ages of 33.5 1.4 Ma and
24.6 1.1 Ma respectively (P. Andriessen pers. Comm. 2016). These ex-
humation ages suggest that in the Oligocene, this gneiss was already ex-
humed above the ductile-brittle transition, and was affected by brittle
extension.
The synthetic map of Fig. 6a illustrates a regional E-W shortening lo-
cally showing N-S oriented exhumation structures. However, E-W ten-
sion fractures crosscut the foliated granite on the eastern side of the
Dome (Fig. 6d) and are intruded by leucogranite veins. These may wit-
ness the late stage of the thermal event. The E-W fractures are
interpreted to represent the relaxation stage in the transition between
a transpressional regime in the Early Paleogene to an extensional re-
gime in the Eocene. These faults are well expressed further east, in the
Gulf of Thailand, where they are coeval and accompany the opening of
the Cenozoic Malay Basin during the late Eocene (Mansor et al., 2014;
Ngah et al., 1996). This event would trigger the beginning of the depo-
sition in the Paleogene.
3.2. Other examples of metamorphic complexes
Many other examples of metamorphic domes occur along the Malay
Peninsula Backbone (Fig. 1a). The Nong Yai Gneiss occurring along the
Klaeng fault zone was affected by a leucogranite intrusion that took
place at 78.6 0.7 Ma followed by a second crystallization at 67 1
to 72.1 0.6 Ma. It was later affected by a sinistral ductile movement
responsible of the exhumation of the dome in the Eocene
(Kanjanapayont et al., 2013). The Doi Inthanon complex experienced
two major episode of metamorphism after the Indosinian; a late
Cretaceous igneous activity (84-72 Ma) with subsequent Paleogene
prograde metamorphic event (crustal thickening) followed by a pro-
grade event in the Eocene/Oligocene (Dunning et al., 1995; Gardiner
et al., 2016) which can be related to local transpression. The exhumation
of the dome occurred in the Miocene (Gardiner et al., 2016). However
some P-T-t conditions in Doi Inthanon complex show a clockwise retro-
grade path with a maximum metamorphic peak at 78 Ma (Macdonald
et al., 2010), and a subsequent exhumation in the Cenozoic
(Macdonald et al., 1993). The metamorphic dome of Khao Phanom
was exhumed in the Eocene through ductile dextral transpression
along the Khlong Marui Fault zone (Kanjanapayont et al., 2012;
Watkinson et al., 2008, 2011) although rims from a pegmatite zircon
sample gave an age of 70 20 Ma. Several ductile cores are present
along the trace of the Ranong Fault that were affected by several epi-
sodes of ductile dextral transpression (Watkinson et al., 2011). Accord-
ing to these authors, the kinematics evidences indicate a major period of
ductile dextral shear in the middle Eocene centred on 44 Ma, following
two episodes of dextral shear before the Late Cretaceous, and in the late
Paleocene/Early Eocene bracket (5949 Ma).They dated also inter-
kinematics granites in the Late Cretaceous (8171 Ma) and early Eocene
(48 Ma). The Stong metamorphic complex in North Malaysia is cored by
two Cretaceous granites: the Noring 75.7 0.6 Ma and the Kenerong
granites 83.9 0.8 Ma(Ng et al., 2015). The meta-sedimentary rocks
around and the granites were rstly foliated and affected by an amphib-
olite facies metamorphism during the Indosinian Orogeny and later ex-
humed with SE dipping low angle detachment fault in the Latest
Cretaceous to Paleogene (Abdullah and Setiawan, 2003; Md Ali et al.,
2016). Further north in Myanmar (Bertrand et al., 1999) found similar
results with ductile detachment planes carrying NNW-SSE stretching

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8 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx
lineations. The metamorphism has been dated at 26 Ma in the south and
21 Ma in the north, and is assumed to reect the northward migration of
the crustal thinning.
3.3. A clogging of massive quartz dykes
Subsequent latest Cretaceous/earliest Cenozoic deformation in-
volves the occurrence of a numerous massive quartz dykes which are
observed in both Thailand and Malaysia (Figs. 3, 4 and 5). Although
these are not directly dated, they postdate compressional fabrics and
are affected by brittle extensional deformation. These dykes occur in
the two major Cretaceous shear zones (the Phuket Slate belt and the
Main Range Province) and are oriented in the NW-SE and NNE-SSW di-
rections. They take place in the major fractures as well as along pluton
edges. Their mineralogical composition is 100% crystalline quartz but
they are often associated with leucogranite intrusions.
In Northern Malaysia (Figs. 4 and 5) we observed several dykes with
similar characteristics. As an example, the NNE-SSW Kledang quartz
ridge of more than 5 km long is located in between the granite pluton
edge and the sediments of the Kinta Valley (Figs. 5 and 7).
From west to east, several units showing different degrees of defor-
mation are juxtaposed (Fig. 7b). The Kledang granite is an undeformed
biotite bearing granite with megacrysts of feldspar, and intensively frac-
tured. No ductile deformation has been observed in its core. The outer
part of the granite appears as a foliated orthogneiss with a N-S 90 foli-
ation (Figs. 7b and 8a), at the contact with the dyke. A series of en ech-
elon quartz veins formed along a N-S dextral shear (F1) is in Riedel
position and crosscut the schistosity with a N35 strike (Fig. 8b). A brittle
deformation (F2) cuts the quartz veins with fractures oriented N130.
Further east, the dyke's core crops out as a 2 km long for 100 m large
ridge (Fig. 8c and d) and shows curving lineaments suggesting a possi-
ble ower structure which could be linked to a later shear or to the mag-
matic crystallization planes. Cataclased/brecciated rims (Fig. 8e) are
later crosscut by a N20/N30 5060E normal fault (Fig. 8f). The
cataclasite is intruded by numerous metric-scale quartz veins which
suggest hydraulic fractures (Fig. 8e). Recent studies (Holk et al., 2015;
Lemarchand et al., 2012) have shown that such features could have a
complex poly-stage history starting with a magmatic crystallization at
depth followed by meteoritic water inux along the rims after further
exhumation. Along the fault, a gouge with dynamic structures and hy-
drothermal reactions has been observed (Fig. 8f). Some C-S bands
N160 40E top to the east in a highly non competent argillaceous mate-
rial testify of a normal slip in a wet material with high uid circulation.
Riedel fractures N10 80E top to the east, typical of a brittle deformation
(Fig. 8f).
Along the Kledang Range (Figs. 7 and 8) two stages of deformation
are apparent. An early E-W compressional deformation occurring on
the pluton edges with a N-S shistosity. It is followed by a WNW-ESE
brittle extension accommodated by NNE-SSW striking faults. At a larger
Fig. 7. Map (a) and cross section (b) of the Kledang Quartz ridge. The Kledang granite pluton is represented in purple, the quartz dyke ridges in dark red and the laterites in light red. On the
eastern side of the dyke, the granite appears foliated, with sigmoid exhumation patterns. Photographs from this area are shown in Fig. 8. Location of the map of Fig. 5. (For interpretation of
the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
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scale, on the DEM (Fig. 5a), we observe that the dykes ll the earlier con-
jugate fractures of the former E-W compression (Fig. 5b and c), which
were later subjected to brittle extension (Fig. 5c). Second order dykes
with the same orientations have also been observed within the sedi-
mentary section in the vicinity of the granites. Due to the paucity of sec-
ondary minerals, no dating of the dykes has so far been published but
relative chronology shows that dyke crystallization postdates the conju-
gate sets of fractures in the granites and are affected by the widespread
extension marked by normal faults.
4. Cenozoic rifting
The sedimentary record of the Cretaceous to Paleogene is difcult to
correlate across the region and is marked by abundant red sandstones
and conglomerates. Syn-rift Sedimentation resumed by the end of the
Paleogene. Isolated continental basins oriented NW-SE and NE-SW are
the rst evidence of Earliest Oligocene rifting. Basins are classied in
three types: 1) deep half-grabens (Mergui and Thai basins), 2) hyper
stretched crust beneath Andaman and Malay basin, and 3) isolated con-
tinental depressions (Figs. 1b and 2a) (Morley et al., 2011; Morley and
Alvey, 2015; Polachan and Racey, 1994; Raj et al., 1998; Srisuriyon and
Morley, 2013; Raj et al., 1998). Cenozoic sediments are almost continu-
ous from the Sumatra Subduction Zone to the Gulf of Thailand except
onshore the peninsula where mainly Paleozoic strata and Mesozoic
granites crop out (Figs. 1b and 2a).
4.1. Pronounced rift systems on the sides of the peninsula's backbone
4.1.1. The Mergui Basin
On the western side of the Peninsula a series of horsts and half gra-
ben are displayed over 200 km, and constitute the large Mergui Basin.
The crust is thinned in 3 major neckings which separate large scale tilted
blocks. They are namely from east to west, the Ranong ridge, the Central
High and the Mergui ridge (Figs. 2a and 9). These ridges are made of
basement rocks such as Cretaceous granites or Mesozoic/Paleozoic stra-
ta according to the geophysical and drilling data (Morley, 2015a;
Morley, 2014; Polachan and Racey, 1994). The major syn-rift faults are
predominantly deep rooted low angle normal faults (Morley, 2009,
2014). The syn-rift sequences were deposited mainly during the
Oligocene (light red unit in the Fig. 9a and b) and are characterized by
a grading from continental shales to deltaic marine thick sands se-
quences in the middle to late Oligocene. From the Early Miocene in
the south and the Middle Miocene in the northern part, the basin is
experiencing post-rift thermal subsidence (Barrier, 2015; Morley et al.,
2011; Morley and Alvey, 2015; Polachan and Racey, 1994; Srisuriyon
and Morley, 2014).
The rst tilted block of NNE-SSW Cenozoic basins occurs between
the Ranong ridge and the Peninsula (Fig. 9b). The opening was accom-
modated by an east-dipping normal splay of the Ranong fault which is
 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx 9

Fig. 8. Field photographs from the Kledang quartz dyke area. The outcrops locations are given on the section of Fig. 7. a) Granite gneiss located on the western side of the quartz ridge
(101.09E/4.75N). The shistosity strikes N-S and the lineation of sigmoid exhumation planes strike N155 600E with a Pitch of 40. b) quartz veins intruding the granite gneiss shown
in a). The veins (F1) strike N35 cross cutting the shistosity S1 N-S 90 and are en echelon along a N-S dextral shear. The veins are affected by a more recent brittle deformation with
fractures striking N130 (F2) c) Core of the quartz dyke (101.08E/4.71N). On the eastern side some weathered granite (laterite) is present. The scale is given by the construction
machine. d) zoom on the dyke shown in c), some lineaments/fractures seem to follow a kind of ower structure. e) Quartz dyke cataclasite located on the eastern side of the quartz
dyke core (101.09E/4.74N). It shows numerous veins and fragments of crystalline quartz veins fractures in every direction. Some veins show the same sigmoid pattern as the granite
gneiss. The scale is given by the red camera on the outcrop. f) Fault gouge present on the eastern side of the dyke, between the quartz dyke core and the weathered granite (101.09E/
4.74N). F planes are normal faults, S and C planes are shear and cleavage planes respectively. The fault strikes N20/N30 5060E with a normal slip. The C\ \S bands, N160 40E and
the Riedel fractures N10 80E. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

inferred to have moved left-laterally since the late Eocene (Morley et al.,
2011; Watkinson et al., 2011). Despite the absence of any well reaching
the deepest parts of the basin, some high amplitude reectors forming
a basal chaotic unit are interpreted as Paleogene continental sediments.
A new interpretation of a well of the Central High revealed the presence
of continental red beds at the top of the basement (Morley, 2015a,b).
Seismic lines show a bending of the crust accommodated by the main
basin fault and a series of cracks to the east in the upper basement
(Fig. 9b).
The second tilted block occurs between the Ranong Ridge and the
Central High (Fig. 9b). During the Late Eocene the Central High support-
ed a chain of volcanoes that ran from Central Myanmar to Sumatra
(Fig. 16b). Some wells drilled at the top of the ridge penetrated Late
Eocene volcanics (Barrier, 2015; Morley, 2014; Polachan and Racey,

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Fig. 9. Line drawings of 2D Seismic lines from the Mergui basin. Locations on Fig. 1b. The darker units are syn-rift sediments wether light units are post rift sediments. Locally, some bottom
reectors from the top of the pre-Cenozoic basement are interpreted as at lying Paleogene red beds. a) Western part of the Mergui basin from the Mergui Ridge in the west to the South
Central High in the east. b) Eastern part of the Mergui Basin, from the Central High in the west to the peninsula thick crust in the east. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this
gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

1994). A series of volcanoes is visible on seismic data in this area and
others are inferred from free air gravity anomalies. Further south, this
volcanic ridge may connect to the Aceh volcanoes onshore North Suma-
tra. The basal syn-rift Paleogene sediments are partially made of volca-
nic tuff and conglomerates (Barrier, 2015; B - 1 Well in Polachan and
Racey, 1994). Seismic lines show that syn-rift sedimentation continues
after this volcanic event; some normal faults and a prominent anticline
being seen east of the Central High (Fig. 10). The anticline postdates the
rst Oligocene syn-rift sequences. Locally syn-kinematics Lower Mio-
cene deposits occur on top of it.
4.1.2. The Andaman Shelf basins
Further north-west, on the Andaman Shelf edge a series of small ba-
sins is observed below a thick section of Miocene sediments (Fig. 11).
The lowermost units of the basins are not dated but a Late Eocene age
can however be inferred from stratigraphic relations and the presence
of an overlying unconformity, as suggested by Morley (2015a). Well
data allow us to constrain the ages of the sediments until the Lower
Miocene in the Andaman Shelf Area. The lower syn-rift is accommodat-
ed via regional LANF (dipping to the east) while the base of syn-rift re-
ector is sometimes difcult to follow. They may represent
metamorphosed sediments or alternately channels of continental mate-
rial resulting from uvial erosion covered by prograding alluvial fans.
Such basement fabrics have been suggested by Srisuriyon and Morley
(2013) on the hanging wall of LANF. The overlying sequence is more
typical of a syn-rift (Lower Oligocene?) with seismic fanning thicker
to the west than in the east. The Lower Miocene sequence is gently tilted
towards the east. They are also crosscut and offset by regional high
angle normal faults, dipping to the west. These faults are more promi-
nent further west towards the East Andaman Basin. Some of them
seem to crosscut the lower sequences and others atten towards the
top of the rst syn-rift unit (top Lower Oligocene). No syn-rift deposi-
tion is observed underlining the quick and short-lived activity of these
faults which end in the upper Mid-Miocene and are sealed by Upper
Miocene sequences. We interpret them as being the result of a second
rifting event most probably linked to the opening of the East Andaman
basin further west. During the Plio-Pleistocene, important regression/
transgression cycles occurred leading to numerous channels and can-
yons, as well as incised valleys particularly near the shelf break (Fig. 11).
The eastern side of the crustal backbone shows similarities in seismic
signature and timing with the Mergui/Andaman basins.

4.1.3. The Chumphon Basin

Fig. 10. Typical anticline structure of the Mergui Basin. Location in Fig. 1b. The inversion is
sealed Early-Miocene sediments.
The Chumphon Basin (location Fig. 3) is located offshore in a depres-
sion between the backbone at the latitude of Ranong and the Surat
Thani Indosinian Batholith (Nakkon Si Thammarat Range). It is oriented
NNE-SSW along the western edge of the Gulf of Thailand. Its bounding
fault runs along the strike of the Klong Marui Fault Zone and dips to
the East. Seismic data suggest that the Chumphon basin opened in the
early Oligocene along a regional east-dipping LANF which offsets at
lying series (Fig. 12b). These beds are unconformable on the basement
beneath and are interpreted as early Paleogene red beds sequences
that have been seen in the region onshore (Fig. 13e and f). The basement
rocks had been studied earlier by several authors before through bore
hole analysis (Heward et al., 2000; Morley and Racey, 2011; Racey,
2011). Several wells encountered Mesozoic uvial sandstone below

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 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx 11

Fig. 11. Line drawing of a 2D seismic line from the Andaman Shelf edge basins. Location see Fig. 1b. Note the westward migration of the rifting.

the Cenozoic and locally, reached basement highs with Permian lime-
stones (Ratburi Formation) (Heward et al., 2000; Morley and Racey,
2011; Racey, 2011). These sequences have been observed onshore, to
the west of the basin. Ratburi limestones form abrupt cliffs and hills
due to several episodes of deformation whereas Mesozoic sandstone
appears moderately folded. They form a gently eastward dipping pla-
teau unconformable on the Upper Paleozoic sequences (Fig. 13e and
d). The seismic textural signature of the syn-rift section resembles that
of the Ranong formation in Mergui, with hummocky lower units (con-
glomeratic?) of (Upper Eocene?) Lower Oligocene age covered by
high reectance sandstone interbedded with shales of upper Oligocene
age. Despite that physical resemblance the sedimentary facies differs
between these two basins. Basins from the Gulf of Thailand remained
continental to shallow marine whereas the Mergui basin was continen-
tal to deep marine (Morley and Racey, 2011). Two wells from the north-
ern part of the basin encountered syn-rift alluvial fan calcareous
conglomerates with palynomorphs from the Paleocene to Oligocene
(Heward et al., 2000). These deposits are not present onshore suggest-
ing that the syn-rift faults activity was localized essentially offshore.
Normal faults as well as a broad anticline structure affect the syn-rift
section and accommodate a younger syn-kinematic deposition from
the Upper Oligocene to Lower Miocene (Fig. 13b).
Further south, the depression of the Chumphon basin continues on-
shore west of the Mesozoic Trang Basin where it divides into two
Cenozoic sub-basins: the Khien Sa and the Krabi basins (locations on
Fig. 3). Their position relative to the regional structures is similar and
we assumed they underwent comparable genetic history. The Khien
Sa Basin is located SW of the town of Surat Thani. The limited published
data (Intawong, 2006) indicate that the syn-rift section goes until the
Eocene. Several units can be seen within the syn-rift section, separated
by a well-dened unconformity (Fig. 12a). Recent industrial exploration
in the Tha Chanaprospect conrm with recent seismic, the thin

Fig. 12. Correlative cross-section between the offshore Chumphon Basin and the onshore Khien Sa Basin. Location in Fig. 3. a) 2D Seismic line from the Khien Sa Basin modied from
(Intawong, 2006). b) 2D Seismic line from the Chumphon Basin (location in Fig. 3). c) Structural cross section of the Khien Sa-Chumphon area. Location in Fig. 1b.

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12 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx

Fig. 13. Fieldwork photographs of different lithologies of the study area. Locations of the outcrops on Fig. 3 marked with black and their respective number. a) Lower Miocene Carbonates
from the Shell Cemetery (98.88E/8.02N). b) at lying conglomerates near Hat Yai, interpreted as Paleogene age (100.49E/ 6.96N). c) and d) at lying red conglomerate near Hat Yai
interpreted as Paleogene in age (100.47E/ 6.63N). e) and f) gently tilted Red Beds sandstone near Surat Thani (99.27E/9.11N). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this
gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

thickness of sediments (Molyneux, 2013). The faults accommodating
the rifting are LANF that branch at depth onto a shallow decollement
level at 2 km (Fig. 12c). The faults reactivate pre-existing
morphostructures such as folded limestone hills or Mesozoic folds.
Due to a low quality of the published raw data the structures in the
basement are not well imaged. However, the dome shape between the
two sub-basins is interpreted as a gently dipping Mesozoic fold uncon-
formably overlain by an undeformed sequence of Early Paleogene sand-
stones. This sequence may be correlated with the Red Beds observed in
the eld (Fig. 13e), and appears poorly deformed with sub-horizontal
bedding. A wide Quaternary valley lled with alluviums covers the Ce-
nozoic strata, which could not be investigated in the eld in this area.
4.1.4. The Krabi Basin
The Krabi basin is a graben well-known for its coal production dur-
ing the 20th century. Paleontological studies of the coal seams bracket
the coal formation between 34 and 31 Ma (Upper Eocene-Early
Oligocene) (Benammi et al., 1998; Ducrocq et al., 1997; Marivaux
et al., 2000). However, another study revealed that pollen present in
the Krabi strata suggest an early Miocene age (Manas and Wickanet,
1999). No typical fan shaped syn-rift sequence is present in the basin
suggesting that the deposition of the Upper Eocene to Oligocene se-
quences started in a topographic low rather than due to long lasting ex-
tension in half-grabens (Fig. 14). The sequences have a relatively
constant thickness from west to east, but an anticline (roll over?) ac-
commodated by an east-dipping (normal?) fault is observed and post-
dates the Upper Oligocene (Fig. 14). The basement of the basin is
exposed in the hills surroundings Krabi town. It consists of intensively
folded Paleozoic massive sandstone interbedded with highly carbona-
ceous shales, Permian limestone of the Ratburi group unconformably
overlain by Middle Mesozoic greenish/pinkish shale and red sandstone
(Fig. 15b). In places, beds of subhorizontal white to greyish sandstone,
are unconformable over these series (Fig. 15a). These are not folded
and show only evidences of extension with a small half graben lled
with (Cenozoic?) sands (Fig. 15a). Hence, we interpret them as the
southward equivalent of the Surat Thani red beds of probable Late
Cretaceous/Paleogene age. The Cenozoic strata do not crop out due to
a thick cover of Quaternary alluvium in this lowland region, except

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 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx 13

Fig. 14. Cross section of the Krabi Basin and surrounding areas. Location on Fig. 3. The black stars mark the locations of the outcrops in Fig. 15. The central part of the section was modied
from (Sae Leow, 1985).

along the coast where a carbonate platform is present at the locality
known as the Shell Cemetery, named for abundant gastropods shells
in the formation (location in Fig. 3 and photograph in Fig. 13a). Several
coal seams containing abundant pollens led to and early to mid-
Miocene age (Watanasak et al., 1995).
The western edge of the Chumphon/Krabi depression corresponds
to the ank of the Klong Marui Fault Zone. In the eld, extension is vis-
ible as a set of sigmoid low angle normal faults (F1 in Fig. 16) affecting
the uppermost sedimentary rocks of the Khao Phanom ductile core (lo-
cation in Fig. 3) (Watkinson et al., 2011), that are crosscut by a later set
of brittle fractures (F2 in Fig. 16).
4.1.5. The Nakhon and Songkhla basins
The Nakhon Basin is an half graben oriented NW-SE mapped from
gravity anomalies and seismic lines (Fig. 3) and detailed by Morley
(2016). In the Northern part of the basin, the extension is accommodat-
ed via a large SW dipping low angle normal fault (Fig. 17a).
The main bounding fault is oriented N-S and dips east, conjugated
with an antithetic fault further east. Both faults were active from the
Late Eocene to the Middle-Late Miocene (Fig. 17a). The syn-rift sedi-
ments of the basin are restricted to the upper Eocene/Lower Miocene,
and sealed by Middle Miocene post-rift sequence. The basin underwent
a post-rift sag evolution from the Middle Miocene until recently but in
detail, the main boundary fault was reactivated with the occurrence of
minor faults inside the basin (Morley, 2016).
The Songkhla Basin is similar to the southern part of the Nakhon
Basin with at & ramp structures (Fig. 18).
The depression of the Songhkla Basin continues southward onshore
but traces of Cenozoic sediments are scarce (Fig. 3). The closest outcrop
of Cenozoic strata to the basin is present at Bukit Arang where coal
seams of probable (Eocene?) Oligocene age have been found
(Chaodumrong et al., 1983; Lee, 1998; Raj et al., 1998). The authors
did not nd sufcient fossils in the basin to properly date it, but they
suggested an (Eocene?) Oligocene as for the basin of Batu Arang, west
of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) (Fig. 4). A clear depression can be seen on-
shore south of Songhkla where the Main Range batholith granites are
severely weathered, and seem to appear on a wide syncline (Figs. 3
and 4). East of Hat Yai, on both sides of the valley two anticlines cored
by Indosinian lacoliths were later intruded by Cretaceous granitoids.
On the western side of this pluton, sub-horizontal conglomerate are de-
posited in the foothill and are interpreted as early Paleogene unde-
formed (and not rifted) fan series (Fig. 13b). To the south, towards the
Malaysia border, these conglomerates are present as red beds with the
same characteristics (Fig. 13c and d). They appear to represent the
base of the Cenozoic section of the Bukit Arang basin. Further palynolog-
ical studies are needed to understand fully the relations between this li-
thology with other features of the region.

Fig. 15. Outcrop photographs in the region of Kraby. Locations of the outcrops on the map of Fig. 3 and the cross section in Fig. 14. a) Small graben structure affecting greyish sandstone
beds, west of Krabi Town (98.74E/8.07N). The sub horizontal sandstone beds are almost not fractures and interpreted as a southern equivalent to the Red Beds sandstone of Surat Thani.
b) Folded Middle Mesozoic greenish/pinkish sandstone interbedded with claystone, east of Krabi basin (99.16E/8.00N). This outcrop is located at the western edge of a broad syncline of
Triassic and Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous series. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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Fig. 16. Outcrop of schistosed Carboniferous mudstone from the north-eastern side of the Khao Phanom ductile Core. Location on Fig. 3. S1 for primary Shistosity, F1 for low angle normal
fault, F1* for its conjugate, and F2 for late brittle steeply dipping normal faults. The colour lines of the stereonets correspond to the colour of fractures on the photographs. Red for F1
fractures, green for F2 fractures. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

4.2. Lateral deep basins in super-streched crust regions: Andaman and
Malay-Pattani basins
The western and eastern edge of the study area shows two large and
deep basins (Fig. 1b). The occurrence of such structures is interpreted to
be linked to their far eld position relative to the Late Cretaceous/Early
Paleogene Orogeny. Although their opening time is similar they corre-
spond to varying external forces. They were both affected by the wide-
spread Oligocene rifting (Madon and Watts, 1998; Mansor et al., 2014;
Morley, 2015a,b). The deep East Andaman basin is bounded by
counter-regional N-S low angle normal faults along its western margin
while the east dipping normal faults of the Malay Basin are more steeply
dipping. The shear zone of the Andaman Basin is thought to branch to
the south to the Proto-Sumatra Fault Zone and to the north to the west-
ern Boundary of the Shan Scarp (Morley, 2015a,b). Using the available
free air gravity anomaly and pre-Cenozoic basement maps of the Gulf
of Thailand we extrapolate the northern continuation of the Malay
basin shear band to the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas fault zones
(Fig. 1b). Despite strong evidences of offset along the Malay basin
bounding faults, they appear to form strong structural barrier between
two less rifted regions: the Khorat/Khmer basin and the Malay
Peninsula Andean arc (Fig. 1). To the south these faults branch on the
E-W to NW-SE Penyu Boundary faults and further east to the Boundary
faults of the Natuna Basin. The special characteristic of the Andaman
and Malay-Pattani basins is in their thick post-rift deposits of Early to
Upper Miocene age. It has been argued that after the Himalayan
Orogeny, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Three Rivers area
lead to tremendous mass of sediments deposited in the Gulf of
Thailand and Andaman Sea (Peter clift, (Clift et al., 2008; Morley and
Alvey, 2015)). For the Gulf of Thailand, some studies argued for a
more local source of sediment lling the basins (Hall and Morley,
2004). Seismic evidence of west dipping normal faults argue in favour
of a proper rifting process in the East Andaman basin from the Upper
Miocene to the Present, with N-S trending strike-slip faults and ENE-

Fig. 17. Line Drawing from a 2D seismic line of the Nakhon Basin extending to the Central Pattani Basin. Location in Fig. 1b.

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 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx
Fig. 18. Line drawing from a 2D seismic line of the Songkhla Basin. Location in Fig. 1b.
WSW normal faults in a pull-apart position, whereas the Malay and
Pattani basins seem to deepen due to continental sag.
5. Discussion
Dense seismic network supporting geological and morphological ob-
servations allow us to identify several areas of different rifting styles or-
ganized around a much less deformed core principally constituted of
granites and pre-Mesozoic rocks. Despite the complex pre-Cenozoic col-
lisional history of Sunda Plate, a global rifting scheme emerges with
three major stages: 1) deposition of Maastrichtian/Paleocene continen-
tal sediments into pre-existing depressions inherited from the Upper
Cretaceous Orogeny, 2) rifting sensu stricto starting in the Upper Eocene
and extending to the Lower Miocene, along N-S faults branching on
deep rooted pre-existing segments of NW-SE shear zones and 3) a Neo-
gene deepening of the depocentre of the lateral regions (Andaman and
Malay-Pattani basins). The location of the depocentres suggests that the
rifting was most prominent within the present day offshore areas. On-
shore the Peninsula, moderate thickness of Paleogene to Quaternary se-
ries are locally present but seem to ll pre-existing depressions with
only little evidences of syn-rift faults activity.
5.1. Acquisition of the back-bone: deformation of the Malay Peninsula
A large part of the low bathymetry (Malacca Strait, Western Gulf of
Thailand) as well as emerged land (Malay Peninsula) represent a
mega-horst separating severely rifted crust (Figs. 1a and 2a). On this
thick crustal backbone we observe little reactivation of the Indosinian
structures except in places where Late Cretaceous to Paleogene gneissic
complexes occur such as Doi Inthanon (Macdonald et al., 2010),
Khanom (Kawakami et al., 2014), Klaeng fault zone (Kanjanapayont
et al., 2013), Stong complex (Md Ali et al., 2016; Abdullah and
Setiawan, 2003; Ghani, 2009; Searle et al., 2012) (Fig. 1a). North of the
study area in central Thailand, the Doi Inthanon was affected by a crustal
thickening in the Cretaceous but possibly continuing until the Oligocene
(Gardiner et al., 2016), associated with uplift and followed by rifting.
The Malay Peninsula is regarded here as an uplifted strip of land that
started emerging/uplift by Latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) times fol-
lowing a thermal and compressional event which has mostly developed
on the western edge of Sundaland (Western Province, Sibumasu)
(Fig. 19a) (Dunning et al., 1995; Gardiner et al., 2016; Macdonald
et al., 2010; Palin et al., 2013). This event affected a large Andean arc
that may have been connected with the coeval Schwanner batholith in
Southern Borneo and the Yenshanian arc of Eastern Sunda (Clements
and Hall, 2011; Hutchison, 2013; Pubellier et al., 2003; Zahirovic et al.,
2014). Three major episodes of deformation affected this area since
Please cite this article as: Sautter, B., et al., Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust, Tectonophysics (2016), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.11.035
15
the Late Mesozoic; an Upper Cretaceous thermal anomaly (Fig. 19a), a
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene thickening (Fig. 19b) followed by a crustal
scale extension during the Late Paleogene (Fig. 19d,e,f).
5.2. The Upper Cretaceous thermal episode
The NNW-SSE elongated crustal horst constituting the present day
Peninsula acquired its shape during successive deformation episodes
starting in the Upper Cretaceous during an E-W compression induced
by the docking of several continental terranes and oceanic arcs
(Fig. 19a). Recent reconstructions, suggest collision of crustal fragments
rifted from the western Australian margin in the Early Jurassic to the
Early Cretaceous (Fabian and Whittaker, 2010; Gibbons et al., 2013,
2015; Hall, 2012). These blocks may be responsible for the thermal
event in the Upper Cretaceous and present as relict continental frag-
ments. Emplacement of plutons, minor uplift and faulting were activat-
ed during this episode. Although not detailed study of the docking of
these blocks has been conducted, subduction jump and slab detachment
may be invoked to explain the thermal anomaly.
5.3. Late Cretaceous/Early Paleogene orogeny
The Late Cretaceous to Early Paleogene deformation shows the exis-
tence of large wrench faults, broad folds and thrusts which locally ex-
pose metamorphic rocks. The deformation is thought to be partitioned
between pure shear parallel to the older Indosinian N-S fabrics and
oblique crustal scale fault zones (Fig. 19b). The strike slip faults intersect
obliquely the present day backbone from either sides resulting in a net-
work of branching nested strike-slip duplexes (Morley, 2004). These
narrow elongated crustal slivers are bounded, in the west by NE-SW
dextral faults (Watkinson et al., 2008, 2011) and in the East by NW-SE
sinistral faults (Mae Ping and Three Pagodas). During this episode, the
margins of pre-accreted blocks (Sibumasu, Indochina) could have
been offset up to 400 km as suggested by (Ridd and Watkinson,
2013). It resulted in the emergence of the Peninsula and beginning of
the exhumation of the Main Range Province (Cottam et al., 2013;
Krahenbuhl, 1991; Kwan et al., 1992). It was accompanied by a wide-
spread thermal anomaly marked by the emplacement of numerous iso-
lated plutons ranging from the Phuket-Slate Belt in Myanmar to the
Meratus Mountains in Kalimantan (Beckinsale et al., 1979; Charusiri
et al., 1993; Schwartz et al., 1995).
5.4. The Paleogene post-orogenic collapse and rifting
Our observations suggest that there is a prominent role of the post
orogenic collapse of the Cretaceous tectonic belt in the rifting initiation.
16 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx

The presence of a symmetric gradient of rifting on either side, from a
poorly rifted core through a pronounced rift system to two areas of
hyper-stretched crust (Andaman Sea and Malay-Pattani basins), sug-
gests deformation at a lithospheric scale. Large rifted basins occur prin-
cipally along the western edge of the Andean arc (Andaman Shelf,
Mergui, Arun, Sumatra), and more specically along the inner edge of
the former Sibumasu block (Fig. 1). The deeper basins are located on
the outer edges of the former Sibumasu block. This may imply that
pre-accreted blocks of different crustal thickness may play a role indi-
vidually. Indeed, the previously accreted blocks (Indochina, Sibumasu,
Luconia, Woyla) still appear to behave as distinct crustal slivers long
after docking. The basins are mostly controlled by N-S trending faults

Fig. 19. Schematic reconstruction of the study area at different times in the past. The approximate position of the Indian plate with its Greater India (thin continental?) crust is represented,
as well as the direction of convergence of India or/and subducting oceanic crust based on the reconstructions from Gibbons et al. (2015) and Zahirovic et al. (2014). The Asian continental
margin was rotated according to Replumaz and Tapponnier (2003). The Late Miocene volcanism is interpreted to occur on top of the previously accreted Woyla/Burma/West Sumatra
terranes regarded as continuous from Myanmar to Sumatra, and made of fragments of thin continental crust Morley and Alvey (2015) and island arcs Barber (2000). A. Alcock Rise;
DI. Doi Inthanon; Kl. Klaeng Fault Core; P. Khao Phanom ductile core; P. Mount Popa; PSB. Phuket Slate Belt; PSCS. Proto South China Sea R. Ranong ductile core; S. Stong complex(in
b); S. Sewell Rise (in g); T. Toba volcano; W. Woyla Arc; WS. West Sumatra Micro-Block.

Please cite this article as: Sautter, B., et al., Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust, Tectonophysics (2016), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.11.035
 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx 17

Fig. 19 (continued).

but many of these tend to curve or connect to EW faults (Figs. 1b and
19d,e). These faults are ubiquitous all over Peninsular Malaysia and
Thailand and very penetrative at the scale of the outcrop as a set of joints
and fractures (Fig. 6d). They occur at the transition between shallow
and deep Cenozoic sedimentary basins and show a normal offset visible
on DEM (Fig. 3). We propose that these steps in the morphology also
control the early basin depocentre (Malay, Penyu, Arun basins), and
that they therefore, constitute a barrier to the maximum extent of the
Cenozoic rifting. For the Songkhla and Chumphon basins the earliest
rifting faults are oriented N-S. However, locally near the present day
coast line a step is noticeable between the thick offshore basins and
the shallow valleys onshore. We suggest that the initiation of this N-S
extension reactivates the Early Paleogene E-W faults of the N-S exten-
sion and may respond to the change of migration direction of the
Indian plate in the Late Paleogene (~45 Ma Fig. 19b,c,d). The main result
of this Late Cretaceous/Early Cenozoic deformation is the absence of
proper rift basins onshore, whereas laterally, lithospheric thickness de-
creases following the global present day morphology as suggested by
Morley (2015a,b).
By the end of the Eocene, the rifting started in the entire region,
reactivating the Late Cretaceous structures. It follows India's collision
and the resuming of subduction along Sumatra. The rifts opened as N-

Please cite this article as: Sautter, B., et al., Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust, Tectonophysics (2016), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.11.035
18 B. Sautter et al. / Tectonophysics xxx (2016) xxxxxx
S to NNE-SSE valleys in Eocene/Oligocene accommodating a WNW-ESE
extension (Fig. 19e) (Morley, 2015a,b) followed by N-S half grabens
which may be in an apparent en echelon pattern, despite the lack of ev-
idence of clear NW-SE dextral crustal faults (Fig. 19f,g) (Lacassin et al.,
1997; Madon and Watts, 1998; Pubellier et al., 2003; Mansor et al.,
2014). However, inherited crustal boundaries along different crustal
slivers are present and may tend to curve basins bounding faults leading
to equivalent geometries (Morley, 2016). The extension described for
Thailand and Mergui also affected areas as far as Borneo to the southeast
(Cullen, 2014) and Myanmar up to the NE Himalayan Syntaxis. Far from
the Peninsula backbone, the deep Malay-Pattani basins and the crust be-
neath the Miocene Andaman Basin were affected by the early rifting as
well (Madon and Watts, 1998; Mansor et al., 2014; Morley, 2015a,b). By
the end of Miocene times, the outer edges of these pronounced rift
systems (Mergui/Thai), collapsed leading to the thickly sedimented
Malay-Pattani basins and the deep East Andaman Basin. Thick Late
Miocene post rift sediments owing from the recently uplifted
Himalaya and Three Rivers regions were deposited in the Andaman
Sea and Gulf of Thailand respectively (Fig. 19g) (Morley and Alvey,
2015). However it has been shown that some sand rich deposits of the
basins of the Gulf of Thailand come from more local sources (Hall and
Morley, 2004). The exhumation topography of the Doi Inthanon area
rich in granitoids itself created a surplus of sediments that would not
just ll the onshore basins of Chiang Mai (Morley, 2015a,b). The early
pre-rifting setting of the 14 km thick Malay Basin is not fully under-
stood. It developed within a low land but continental area bordered
by structures affected by a rst uplift in the Upper Cretaceous to early
Paleogene (Phuket Slate Belt, Main Range, Khorat plateau, Luconia
Block, Schwanner Montains). For most of the Basins of Sundaland the
post rift sag started in the Early to Middle Miocene. However, prior to
this, the Malay basin shows indication of a N-S extension along E-W
faults in the Paleogene like most of the other Paleogene basins of Gulf
of Thailand. The dextral shear along NW-SE trends seems to connect
via a series of small en echelon normal faults to larger N-S half grabens
in the Oligocene (Madon and Watts, 1998; Mansor et al., 2014).
In the Early Miocene, anticline structures are present in the Mergui
and Chumphon basins, recording a regional episode of inversion affect-
ing all the syn-rift section. According to Pubellier and Morley (2014),
this compression affected all the south west and east of Sundaland
and nds its origin in the collision of Australian fragments. According
to Morley and Westaway (2006) a second stage of uplift is recorded in
western Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia through apatite ssion
tracks, showing an increase of erosional rates of these structural highs
(Krahenbuhl, 1991; Kwan et al., 1992; Morley et al., 2011; Racey et al.,
1997). Most of the sediments originated from the erosion of the land-
masses were deposited in the Gulf of Thailand and the Mergui Shelf,
as thick post-rift sequences. Morley and Westaway (2006) proposed
that the excess load of post rift sediments in the Malay and Pattani
basin induced a ductile crust ow towards the eroded belts. In the
East Andaman basin, the thickness of Miocene sediments is also impor-
tant suggesting a similar setting in western Sundaland where formation
of oceanic crust started 4 Ma years ago (Curray, 2005) or in the Late
Miocene as suggested by Morley and Alvey (2015).
6. Implications and conclusions
Structural synthesis and correlation of basins across the Malay
Peninsula suggest that the Late Cretaceous/Early Paleogene tectonic
belt strongly conditioned the Cenozoic rifting, particularly where syn-
kinematics plutons are emplaced. It is suggested that the extension is
localized at the edge of recently heated crust, thickened by deformation,
and that the topographic gradients at the edge of the basins is accom-
modated by large low angle normal faults. Rifting is younger and more
intense west of the Phuket-Slate Belt belt whereas to the east of the
Permo-Triassic Indosinian Arc a strong deepening occurs. The pattern
is otherwise relatively symmetrical with an uplifted thick core inherited
Please cite this article as: Sautter, B., et al., Late Paleogene rifting along the Malay Peninsula thickened crust, Tectonophysics (2016), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2016.11.035
from the Cretaceous doming and weakly affected by extension, anked
by rifted basins with crustal boudinage, and in turn bounded by two ex-
ternal zones marked by intense rifting or deepening. Even though the
depositional environments vary in the west and east of the Peninsula,
they do share similar morphologies in terms of crustal thinning. This
study shows that a recently thickened crust formed through an orogeny
(e.g. crustal thickening and thermal event) conditions later basin devel-
opment on its sides. The subsequent rifting is however linked to intra-
plate deformation related to stresses at boundary conditions (e.g.
India's collision and resumed subduction). It is suggested that basin
morphostructures and geometries are conditioned by the shape and
distance from the former orogeny (contact of India with Sundaland),
with a stronger stretching of the crust far from the backbone. The evolu-
tion of the rifting with time and the localisation of the main depocentres
is conditioned by two main causes: 1) the presence and migration of a
free edge (e.g. path of India), 2) the presence of a strong backbone
(core of the orogeny) which act as a barrier separating two kinds of
basin geometries; to the west, narrow elongated basins conditioned
by the obliquity of the convergence (subduction) and to the east, basins
isolated from the subduction effects with deformation controlled by in-
ternal forces of the core of Sunda.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Nicolas Chamot Rooke (CNRS, UMR8538),
for discussions related to this work. This project was earlier supported
by Universiti Teknologi Petronas (Malaysia) and later by TOTAL France
and by the Ecole Normale Suprieure (France) (grant: ENS, Convention
T171). We deeply thank the thorough and useful review from C.K.
Morley and A. Cullen which signicantly improved the manuscript.
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