A contemporary review of sedimentological and stratigraphic framework of the Late Paleogene deep marine sedimentary successions of West Sabah, North-West Borneo

Abstract

A timely and updated review of the Late Paleogene deep marine sedimentary successions is vital for a better understanding of the historical advances in sedimentology and stratigraphic evolution of West Sabah. The main objective of the study is to discuss the facies characteristics and depositional environment of the Late Paleogene rock formations. In addition, the stratigraphic aspects of the Paleogene interval will also be discussed. The Oligocene Temburong Formation exposed in several localities of West Sabah had been field researched with varying depositional processes and facies analysis. Moreover, the distribution of submarine fan, the observed variety of deep marine sediments associated with various sedimentary processes and the source of sediments of the co-eval West Crocker Formation were also investigated with contorted layers of mass transport deposits (MTD) reported first time in the formation. The upper and lower stratigraphic contacts of Late Paleogene formations, the age of individual rock formations and use of the term "Crocker Formation" in the literature are discussed with numerous unconformities and their stratigraphic positions in the Paleogene interval have been incorporated to understand the historical development of the Paleogene stratigraphy of the West Sabah. Owing to degrading tropical climate of the area, there are limitations and constraints on field-based research where the older outcrops are altered with housing development and dense vegetative cover. This review outlined the scientific developments and highlighted the ambiguities associated with stratigraphic placement of the Temburong and Crocker formations that still needed to be resolved to get an upgraded depiction of the Late Paleogene sediments of West Sabah.

Facies analysis and distribution of Late Palaeogene deep‐water massive sandstones in submarine‐fan lobes, NW Borneo

“…These Crocker sediments are bounded by unconformable surfaces with the Late Eocene unconformity at the lower part and base Miocene unconformity at the top (Figure 1c). The thicknesses of Late Palaeogene rocks are at least more than 2,000 m including lithologies like sandstone, shales, and siltstones (Jamil et al, 2019, 2020; Lambiase et al, 2008; Sheikh et al, 2021; Tongkul, 1995). The variety of interpretations for the West Crocker Formation has already been discussed in the literature, such as inner fan to outer fan environment containing debrites, sandy‐turbidites, mass‐transport deposits (MTD), and low‐density turbidites (Jackson et al, 2009; Jamil, Siddiqui, Umar, et al, 2021; Zakaria et al, 2013).…”

“…(b) Location map of the study area with outcrop locations from 1 to 17 around Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, NW Borneo and extended from SW to NW Sabah area for characterization of massive sand units in the West Crocker Formation. (c) The age of the formation is defined as Late Palaeogene or more specifically Oligocene times which are bounded by the Late Eocene unconformity at the base and base Miocene unconformity or top Crocker unconformity at the top of West Crocker sediments (Hall, 2013; Jackson et al, 2009; Jamil et al, 2020)…”

“…The present study also highlights the comparative thickness of sandstone beds which are quite applicable in determining the channel-lobe complex. (Hall, 2013;Jackson et al, 2009;Jamil et al, 2020)…”

Facies Analysis and Sedimentary Architecture of Hybrid Event Beds in Submarine Lobes: Insights from the Crocker Fan, NW Borneo, Malaysia

“…During the Late Cretaceous, the island arc and tectonic fragments collided with the continental part of the Sunda Plate, forming the depocenter named Sabah Basin that now represents the northern part of Borneo [52,59,60]. Thus, NW Borneo is located at the complex geological junction of the South China Sea, the Sunda Shelf, the Java Sea, and the Celebes Sea (Figure 1), where convergent tectonic settings resulted in the Sabah orogenic belt exposing the Tertiary deepwater sediments [46,53,[61][62][63][64]. The NW Sabah Basin mainly consists of the Crocker range or Crocker fold-thrust belt that developed due to the collision of continental plates [65][66][67].…”

Geochemistry of Eocene Bawang Member turbidites of the Belaga Formation, Borneo: Implications for provenance, palaeoweathering, and tectonic setting

“…Tectonically, the formation of Borneo and the closure and disappearance of palaeo-basins are related to both subduction along with the obduction of ophiolites. Subsequently, several micro-continental fragments as well as island arc collided and welded with the continental part of the Sunda Plate (Palaeozoic core) (Hutchison, 1989;Jamil, Abd Rahman, Siddiqui, Ibrahim, & Ahmed, 2020;Jamil, Abd Rahman, Siddiqui, & Ahmed, 2019;Mathew, Babu, Kundu, Kumar, & Pant, 2014;Ramkumar et al, 2018;Siddiqui et al, 2019;Usman et al, 2019). The tectonic subduction of the oceanic crust of the proto-South China Sea was predominant from Late Cretaceous to Palaeocene times.…”