Abstract
Abstract In the 1960s, anticipating the award of concessions in the Gulf of Thailand, BP carried out reconnaissance geological mapping over all of Southern Thailand including its Gulf islands. The resulting eight geological maps at 1:250 000 scale provided a database that underpinned discussions of Thailand's place in global plate-tectonic reconstructions that were emerging at that time. In particular, new light was thrown on the Paleozoic succession, and important differences were found between the Upper Thai Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula (respectively, NW and SE of the prominent bend in the peninsula's outline). The Phuket Group of the Upper Peninsula is a very thick diamictite-bearing succession of possible Devonian to Early Permian age, apparently sourced in the west, a region now occupied by the Indian Ocean. That in turn suggested a possible Gondwana origin for SE Asia, a contentious concept at the time, but one that is now widely accepted. The emphasis of field mapping these days is on obtaining detailed data that necessarily means over areas of limited extent. But a very broad regional mapping project such as BP's in Thailand revealed stratigraphic and tectonic insights that could be revealed only from a wide-ranging regional study of this kind.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
