Facies analysis, biostratigraphy, and provenance of the late Neogene Seulimeum Formation, Northwest Aceh basin, Sumatra (Indonesia)

Abstract

A sedimentological, biostratigraphic, and petrographical investigation was conducted on exposed sedimentary rocks in the Seulimeum Formation in the Northwest Aceh Basin, Sumatra. Sedimentary facies analysis suggests a deep-marine depositional environment consists of an inner fan, middle fan, and outer fan to basin plain deposits. New foraminiferal data designated a late Miocene to early Pleistocene age for the studied rock unit, equivalent to N17 to N21 zone, with paleobathymetry in the bathyal environment. Petrographically, the sandstone of the Seulimeum Formation is included as subarkose, sublithic arenite, and lithic arenite, or classified as litho-quartzose, feldspatho-litho-quartzose, and litho-feldspatho-quartzose. Provenance analysis suggests that the origin of the sandstones is from the arc orogen sources. Furthermore, it is concluded that the development of the GSF zone in the late Neogene controls the formation of the deep-marine depositional setting. The west-south-west part of the fault is the footwall part (the Barisan Mountains), as the main high area of sedimentary source material consisting dominantly of the Woyla Group, with some contributions from Bentaro volcanic and Paleogene to early Neogene sediments. Our findings also suggest that the beginning of the Great Sumatran Fault, which corresponds with the uplift of the Barisan Mountains in the northern part of Sumatra, took place in the late Miocene, between 8.6 and 5.9 Ma.