Thailand presently lies in the interior of the tectonically quiet Sundaland core. It
forms the stable core beneath the Thai-Malay Peninsula, southern Indochina, parts
of Sumatra, Java and Borneo. It is surrounded on all sides by volcanic and seismic
activity, including the subduction at the Sumatra-Java-Timor trench, and collision
between Australia and eastern Indonesia.
Completed projects:
Kinematic History of the Khlong Marui and Ranong Faults, Southern Thailand
Sedimentary provenance in southern Thailand
Tertiary Basins of Northern Thailand
Structural Evolution of the Phrae Basin, Northern Thailand
Evolution of the Chumphon Basin, Gulf of Thailand
It is clear from the geometry of the sedimentary basins in Northern Thailand that their
evolution is closely linked to NE-SW trending sinistral strike-slip faults and NW-SE
trending dextral strike slip faults. This forms a wedge between the Mai Ping fault
system in the south and the Northern Thailand Fault System in the north, consistent
with north-south compression and east-west extension. In contrast the area to the
south of the Mai Ping Fault, including the Gulf of Thailand seems to be much more
dominated by extensional processes. Here through-going strike slip faults are rare and
offsets between graben and changes in their polarity can be explained by normal linkage
of extensional fault systems.
Phumee Srisuwon’s detailed analysis of the Phrae basin shows that its evolution is
closely linked to sinistral movements on the NE-SW trending Phrae-Thoen fault.
Anongporn Intawong will investigate the interaction between the extensional tectonics of
the Gulf of Thailand and strike-slip deformation associated with the Klong Mariu Fault
which marks its western boundary.
Interestingly MSc project work supported by Thai Shell suggests that small basins in the
Andaman Sea may have formed at the opposite end of the Klong Mariu Fault associated
with splays that would be indicative of sinistral strike-slip displacement on this fault.
While the Tertiary basins provide a record of the evolution of the area from the Late
Oligocene/early Miocene, we know relatively little about the earlier Tertiary history of
the area. In particular regional uplift is likely to have been an important precursor to
basin formation. To investigate this Gary Nichols has embarked on a pilot programme of
sample collection from granites in Northern Thailand for apatite fission track dating.
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