Broadband seismic imaging around the Banda Arc: changes in the anatomy of offshore fold-and-thrust belts

Abstract

AbstractThe complicated geology of the Banda region results from complex collision between the Eurasia, Australia and Pacific plates, ongoing in the region since the Late Oligocene but particularly in the study area since the Middle Miocene (from 15 Ma). Regional 2D broadband seismic data have provided improved imaging of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary successions in the region. The region comprises the deep and ultra-deep Banda Sea enclosed by a magmatic inner arc and an outer deformed zone, comprising a series of orogens. This outer orogenic zone comprises islands with extended and sometimes hyperextended continental crust, a series of marginal foredeeps and intervening fold-and thrust belts. This paper illustrates how the offshore fold-and-thrust belts that bound the fore-deeps change in size, shape and degree of basement reactivation in a clockwise sense around the Banda Arc.