Deformation and sedimentation along a developing terrane suture: Eastern Sunda forearc, Indonesia

Abstract

The collision of the eastern Sunda arc with northwest Australia has resulted in the development of a suture between the Sumba ridge and Sawu-Timor terranes along a zone of intraforearc convergence. The developing suture varies from the low-angle Sawu thrust, with attendant mud diapirs in the Sumba basin, to high-angle reverse faults near a basement high of the underthrust Sumba ridge terrane. Bottom currents, associated with the flow of Pacific Ocean deep water into the Indian Ocean, have eroded the terranes and subsequently deposited the detritus in an assemblage of contourites along the suture. This study reveals the high structural variability of a terrane suture and the oceanographic influence on the deposition of overlap assemblages.