South Sulawesi Arm’s Evolution in the Past 50 million years and Its Impacts on the Geology and Geomorphology

Abstract

ABSTRACTSouth Sulawesi Arm (SSA) is one of the four Celebes Island arms, geologically situated near the triple junction of Eurasia, India-Australia, and the Pacific Plate. This area has undergone unique geological history and evolution in the past 50 million years (m.y). SSA is distinct from the other Sulawesi arms as it is the only one attached to the Eurasian Plate, while others consist of ophiolite originating from the Philippines and Indo-Australian plates. This research aimed to explore the changes related to the geological evolution of SSA. It focused on explaining the following objectives: 1) Geological evolution of Sulawesi Island in sketch form since 50 m.y ago, divided into five intervals of 50–40, 40–35, 30–25, 20–15, and 10–5 million years, 2) uniqueness of SSA Evolution compared to other parts of Sulawesi Island and 3) geological and geomorphological conditions. Secondary data were collected from various literature reviews with ArcGIS Software 10.7 used to produce a model of SSA formation. The result showed that the evolution of SSA 50 m.y ago demonstrated the dynamics of geological changes due to the complex plate boundaries and formation from ophiolites of the Philippines Plate and the Indian-Australian Plate.

Keywords

• South Sulawesi Arm
• Geology of south sulawesi
• Walanae fault
• Tectonic evolution of sulawesi
• Geomorphology of south Sulawesi arm