cretaceous radiolarians from baliojong ophiolite sequence, sabah, malaysia

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

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Journal of Asian Earth Sciences

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Cretaceous radiolarians from Baliojong ophiolite sequence, Sabah, Malaysia

Basir Jasin a,⇑, Felix Tongkul b,1

a Geology Programme, School of Environmental and Natural Resources Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi,Selangor, Malaysiab Geology Programme, School of Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, 88999 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Available online xxxx

Keywords:CretaceousOphiolite sequenceRadiolariansChertThrust slice

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⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 613 3334404; faxE-mail addresses: [email protected] (B. J

(F. Tongkul).1 Tel.: +60 6088 320000x5756.

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a b s t r a c t

The Baliojong ophiolite sequence exposed along the Baliojong River in Northern Sabah consists of volca-nic rocks, mostly basalts, overlain by sedimentary layers consisting of well-bedded cherts, mudstonesand sandstones. The ophiolite sequence occurs as steeply-dipping overturned thrust slices orientedapproximately north–south. A total of 42 chert samples were collected from the sedimentary layers.However, most of the samples contain poorly preserved radiolarians. Only nine samples yielded moder-ately well-preserved radiolarians from three selected thrust slices. A total of 32 taxa were identified.Based on the stratigraphic distribution of selected taxa, the radiolarians can be divided into two assem-blage zones. The first assemblage zone is Dictyomitra communis Zone characterized by the occurrence ofDictyomitra communis, Archaeodictyomitra (?) lacrimula, Sethocapsa (?) orca, Dictyomitra pseudoscalaris,and Pantanellium squinaboli. The assemblage indicates Barremian to Aptian in age. The second assemblagezone Pseudodictyomitra pseudomacrocephala Zone contains Pseudodictyomitra pseudomacrocephala,Dictyomitra gracilis, Dictyomitra montesserei, Xitus mclaughlini, and Dictyomitra obesa. This assemblageindicates an age of Albian and the presence of Pseudodictyomitra tiara suggests the age may extend upto Cenomanian. Each thrust slice yielded more or less similar radiolarian assemblages indicating that theyall came from the same sedimentary layers.

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1. Introduction

Sabah, situated in the northern part of Borneo is underlain by aMesozoic ophiolitic basement rock comprising of volcanic rocks(basalts, breccias, dolerites, serpentinites, and gabbros) and associ-ated sediments (cherts, mudstones, and sandstones) (Tongkul,1991). The ophiolitic basement rocks which represent remnantsof oceanic crust occur in north, central and southeast Sabah(Fig. 1). The age of the oceanic crust has been estimated based onages provided by radiolarian cherts. Over the last 30 years radiolar-ian cherts associated with the ophiolite sequence in Sabah hasbeen studied by many geologists. Jasin et al. (1985), Jasin and Tahir(1988) and Jasin (1999) discovered Valanginian to Aptian radiola-rians from north Sabah in Kudat area. Jasin and Hasan (1992)and Jasin and Tongkul (2000) identified some Valanginian toCenomanian radiolarians from Northern Sabah near Tandek area.Jasin (1992) recorded late Valanginian to Barremian radiolariansfrom Central Sabah in Telupid area. Aitchison (1994) determinedpre-Albian radiolarians from a chert block in Lahad Datu area.These studies show that the radiolarians, extracted from cherts

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kul, F. Cretaceous radiolarianses.2012.10.038

in this region, are indicative of Early Cretaceous to early LateCretaceous.

Previous age determination of radiolarian assemblages are basedon limited exposures of chert beds or blocks where the systematiccollection of samples cannot be carried out. Therefore, it is uncer-tain how these cherts are stratigraphically related to each other.The Baliojong ophiolite sequence exposed extensively along theBaliojong River, located in Northern Sabah near Tandek Town(Tongkul, 1997, 1999; Muda and Tongkul, 2008) provides an excel-lent site to study the ages of the associated chert beds and theirstratigraphical relationship. Based on a detailed study on the taxon-omy and stratigraphic distribution of Cretaceous radiolarian taxa(O’Dogherty, 1994; Baumgartner et al., 1995), it is now possible toutilize the radiolarians for more precise age determination. This pa-per presents the age determination and depositional environmentof chert beds in the Baliojong ophiolite sequence. A comparison isalso made with previous studies to see its regional significance.

2. Geological setting

2.1. Regional geology

The Kota Marudu area comprises volcanic and associatedsedimentary rocks. The volcanic rocks consist predominantly of

from Baliojong ophiolite sequence, Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Asian Earth

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Fig. 1. Map showing the location and geological setting of Baliojong River Mesozoic ophiolitic basement.

2 B. Jasin, F. Tongkul / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences xxx (2012) xxx–xxx

basalts, gabbros and serpentinites with associated cherts and mud-stones that form part of the Mesozoic ophiolitic basement of Sabah(Fig. 1). Near Tandek area the ophiolitic basement occurs as a smallslab and is surrounded by younger sedimentary rocks, such as thedeep-water Paleogene Crocker Formation and shallow-water Neo-gene Bongaya Formation. The ophiolitic basement was subjected totectonic compression or shortening which resulted in their foldingand faulting, before the deposition of the Crocker Formationsediments.

2.2. Baliojong River ophiolitic sequence

Continuous exposures of the ophiolitic sequence have beenmapped along the Baliojong River (Fig. 2). The volcanic rocks con-sist mostly of basalts associated with volcanic breccias, doleritesand gabbros. The basalts mostly occur as pillow lavas, with a diam-eter between 30 and 60 cm, fine-grained and greenish in colour.The pillow structures are mostly overturned. The overlying sedi-mentary rocks consist of cherts, mudstones and sandstones. Thecherts, mostly red and greyish in colour are quite thin, between5 and 30 cm thick (Fig. 3). The cherts consist of microcrystallinequartz that contains abundant radiolarians. Some of the chert bedswhich are associated with manganese minerals were mined be-tween 1903 and 1908 (Stephens, 1956). The medium-grained greysandstones and varicoloured mudstone range in thickness from afew centimetres to a metre. The interlayered volcanic and sedi-mentary rocks are folded and faulted into several steeply dippingslices oriented approximately north–south. The layers in each slice,

Please cite this article in press as: Jasin, B., Tongkul, F. Cretaceous radiolariansSciences (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.10.038

dipping between 50� and 80�, are mostly overturned (Fig. 2). TheBaliojong ophiolite sequence represents the uppermost crustalcomponent of oceanic crust or supra-ophiolite sediments.

3. Material and method

A total of 42 chert samples were systematically collected fromwell-bedded chert sequence or sections along the Baliojong River.The chert samples were crushed into approximately 1 cm diameterfragments then treated with diluted Hydrofluoric acid (Pessagnoand Newport, 1972). Radiolarians were retrieved, photographedand identified. Most of the samples yielded very poor preservationof radiolarians. Therefore in this paper three sections (Sections A, B,and C) were selected for detailed study (see Fig. 2 for location ofsections). Eighteen samples of chert were picked from the threesections and only 9 samples yielded moderately well-preservedradiolarians (Fig. 4).

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Age of cherts

Thirty-two species of radiolarians were identified (Table 1). Thespecies were grouped into two assemblage zones based on thestratigraphic distribution of some selected taxa (Fig. 5).

Assemblage I; Dictyomitra communis Assemblage Zone. Thezone is characterized by the occurrence of Dictyomitra communis



Fig. 2. Geological map showing the distribution of the Mesozoic ophiolitic sequence and overlying Paleogene Crocker Formation. Geological cross-section showing steeplydipping slices of volcanic rocks and associated sedimentary rocks due to thrust faults. Location of selected sections (Sections A, B and C).

B. Jasin, F. Tongkul / Journal of Asian Earth Sciences xxx (2012) xxx–xxx 3

(Squinabol), Sethocapsa (?) orca Foreman, Archaeodictyomitra (?)lacrimula (Foreman), Dictyomitra pseudoscalaris (Tan), and Panta-nellium squinaboli (Tan) (Fig. 5). Other species found in the zone


are, Acaeniotyle umbilicata (Rüst), Thanarla pacifica Nakaseko &Nishimura, Thanarla conica (Squinabol), Xitus spicularius (Aliev),Stichomitra communis Squinabol, Podobursa typica (Rüst), Godia



Fig. 3. Part of Section A showing a steeply dipping, tightly folded reddish chert layers juxtaposed with a pillow basalt sequence to the right.

Fig. 4. Stratigraphic log of the three Sections A, B and C showing the samplinghorizons.


coronata (Tumanda), Praeconocaryomma lipmanae Pessagno,Arcaheodictyomitra vulgaris Pessagno, Holocryptocanium astiensisPessagno, Pyramispongia sp., Phaseliforma sp., Angulobracchiaportmanni (Baumgartner), Hiscocapsa grutterinki (Tan) andCryptamphorella conara (Foreman) (Fig. 6). This assemblage wasrecovered from samples 11 and 12 (Section A), sample 19(Section B) and sample 24 (Section C) and is indicative ofBarremian to Aptian in age.

Assemblage II; Pseudodictyomitra pseudomacrocephalaAssemblage Zone. The zone contains Pseudodictyomitra pseudo-macrocephala (squinabol), Dictyomitra montisserei (Squinabol),Xitus mclaughlini Pessagno, Dictyomitra gracilis (Squinabol),Dictyomitra obesa (Squinabol), Dictyomitra formosa Squinabol,and Pseudodictyomitra tiara (Holmes) (Fig. 5). Other species inthe zone are Thanarla pulchra (Squinabol), Stichomitra communisSquinabol, Xitus spicularius (Aliev), Tuguriella pagoda (Squinabol),Holocryptocanium geyserensis Pessagno, Ultranapora sp., andPseudodictyomitra sp. (Fig. 7). This assemblage was retrieved from


samples 13 and 15 (Section A), samples 19 and 20 (Section B) andsamples 25 and 27 (Section C). The assemblage represents an age ofAlbian-Cenomanian.

4.2. Stratigraphic position of chert beds

The geological map and the cross-section of the Baliojong Ophi-olite complex exhibit several slices of ophiolite sequence lying ontop of each other. It appears that there are several chert beds of dif-ferent ages. The radiolarians in the chert samples taken from thethree sections, however show that they are of the same speciesassemblages (Table 1) and thus of the same age. This finding indi-cates that the slices that appear on top each other in the field werein fact, originally located adjacent to each other. They represent thesame sedimentary layer on top of the pillow basalt prior to tectoniccompression and shortening.

4.3. Regional significance of radiolarian assemblages

The radiolarian assemblages from cherts of the Baliojong ophio-litic sequence are very similar to those found in cherts exposed inother areas of Sabah, such as those in Kudat, Telupid and LahadDatu areas. They appear to be from the same stratigraphic position,ranging in age from Barremian to Cenomanian. The previous stud-ies of radiolarian chert from Sabah indicate the age of the chertranging from Valanginian to Cenomanian (Jasin et al., 1985; Jasin,1992, 1999; Jasin and Hasan, 1992; Aitchison, 1994; Jasin andTahir, 1988; Jasin and Tongkul, 2000). In this study, the sampleswere systematically taken from a well-exposed outcrop. The agedetermination of the present study is more accurate based on theimproved taxonomy and stratigraphic range of some index speciesestablished by O’Dogherty (1994) and Baumgartner et al. (1995).Based on this new finding it is postulated that the age of the under-lying volcanic rocks (pillow lava), or ophiolitic basement rock ofSabah must be Lower Barremian or older (>130 million years).

The radiolarian assemblages of the present materials are com-parable to those of the Batimala Complex, Sulawesi (Wakitaet al., 1994a). The radiolarian assemblages of the Batimala complexrange from late Albian to Cenomanian. Similar Cretaceous radiolar-ian assemblages were also reported from chert blocks the Luk-UloMelange Complex, central Java (Wakita et al., 1994b). Deposition ofradiolarian cherts in Sabah, Sulawesi and Java was probably relatedto high radiolarian productivity associated with volcanism.



Table 1Occurrence and distribution of radiolarian species in cherts from the three sections.

Radiolarian species Sample no.

Section A Section B Section C

S11 S12 S13 S15 S19 S20 S24 S25 S27

1 Dictyomitra communis (Squinabol) A C C2 Archaeodictyomitra vulgaris Pessagno C C F F C3 Thanarla conica (Squinabol) C C C F C4 Dictyomitra pseudoscalaris (Tan) C C C C C5 Archaeodictyomitra (?) lacrimula (Foreman) A C C C6 Xitus spicularius (Aliev) F C C R C7 Stichomitra communis Squinabol F A C C C A C8 Podobursa typica (Rüst) R R R9 Godia coronata (Tumanda) F F F10 Praeconocaryomma lipmanae Pessagno C C C11 Holocryptocanium astiensis Pessagno C C C12 Pyramispongia sp. R13 Phaseliforma sp. R14 Sethocapsa (?) orca Foreman C F F R F15 Acaeniotyle umbilicata (Rüst) C C F F F16 Thanarla pacifica Nakaseko & Nishimura C F R F17 Pantanellium squinaboli (Tan) C C C C18 Angulobracchia portmanni (Baumgartner) F F19 Hiscocapsa grutterinki (Tan) F F20 Cryptamphorella conara (Foreman) A C C C C C21 Holocryptocanium geyserensis Pessagno C C C22 Xitus mclaughlini Pessagno C C F C23 Thanarla pulchra (Squinabol) F F24 Ultranapora sp. R R R R25 Dictyomitra montesserei (Squinabol) C C C C C26 Dictyomitra Formosa Squinabol C C27 Pseudodictyomitra sp. R28 Dictyomitra gracilis (Squinabol) C C C C C29 Pseudodictyomitra pseudomacrocephala (Squinabol) F F F F F30 Tuguriella pagoda (Squinabol) C C31 Dictyomitra obesa (Squinabol) F F32 Pseudodictyomitra tiara (Holmes) F

Abundance of radiolarian taxa: R (rare), <5; F (few), 5–10; C (common), 11–25; A (abundant), >25 specimens.

Fig. 5. Stratigraphic range of some selected radiolarian taxa based on O’Dogherty (1994) and Baumgartner et al. (1995).


Please cite this article in press as: Jasin, B., Tongkul, F. Cretaceous radiolarians from Baliojong ophiolite sequence, Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Asian EarthSciences (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2012.10.038


Fig. 6. Dictyomitra communis Assemblage Zone (Barremian to Aptian) (Bar scale = 100 lm). 1. Dictyomitra communis (Squinabol), 2. Dictyomitra communis (Squinabol), 3.Archaeodictyomitra vulgaris Pessagno, 4. Dictyomitra pseudoscalaris (Tan), 5. Thanarla conica (Squinabol), 6. Archaeodictyomitra (?) lacrimula (Foreman), 7. Thanarla pacificaNakaseko & Nishimura, 8. Xitus spicularius (Aliev), 9. Stichomitra communis Squinabol, 10. Podobursa typica (Rüst), 11. Pantanellium squinaboli (Tan), 12. Praeconocaryommalipmanae Pessagno, 13. Holocryptocanium astiensis Pessagno, 14. Phaseliforma sp., 15. Hiscocapsa grutterinki (Tan), 16. Sethocapsa (?) orca Foreman, 17. Godia coronata(Tumanda), 18. Cryptamphorella conara (Foreman), 19. Pyramispongia sp., 20. Angulobracchia portmanni Baumgatner, 21. Acaeniotyle umbilicata (Rüst).


4.4. Ocean plate stratigraphy

Ocean plate stratigraphy in East and Southeast Asia has beendiscussed in detail by Wakita and Metcalfe (2005). The completesequence of the ocean plate stratigraphy is composed of pillow ba-salt, limestone, chert, siliceous mudstone, and detrital turbidites inascending order. The sequence is representing the entire oceanicfloor from mid-oceanic ridge to the subduction zone. The BaliojongOphiolite Sequence comprises pillow basalt, bedded-radiolarianchert and detrital turbidites (Fig. 4). The limestone is absent. Theradiometric ages of the ophiolite basement range from MiddleJurassic to Hauterivian, Early Cretaceous (Hutchison, 2005). Thedevelopment of oceanic crust started during Jurassic to earliestCretaceous followed by deposition of Early Cretaceous radiolariancherts directly on the pillow basalt. The age of the overlying mud-stone and sandstone is not known and presumably younger thanthe chert. The absence of limestone suggests that the cherts weredeposited in the deep-water environment below the CalciteCompensation Depth. The sequence was probably developed in a


marginal basin. Based on the model by Wakita and Metcalfe(2005), the presence of detrital turbidites in the Baliojong Ophiolitesequence is indicative of an accretionary complex.

5. Conclusions

The radiolarite of the Baliojong ophiolitic sequence occurs as re-peated thrust slices of the same ages. The chert and the underlyingvolcanic rocks formed the cover of an ophiolite sequence. The rockswere faulted, folded and overturned prior to deposition of theCrocker Formation. The radiolarians can be grouped into twoassemblage zones, the Dictyomitra communis Assemblage Zone,indicative of Barremian–Aptian, and the Pseudodictyomitra pseudo-macrocephala Assemblage Zone, indicative of Albian-Cenomanian.These assemblages are similar to radiolarian assemblages reportedin other parts of Sabah and thus it can be concluded that the chertlayers must have been the first sediment to be laid down on thenewly formed oceanic crust of a marginal basin during theBarremian.



Fig. 7. Pseudodictyomitra pseudomacrocephala Assemblage Zone (Albian to Cenomanian) (Scale bar = 100 lm). 1. Pseudodictyomitra pseudomacrocephala (Squinabol), 2.Dictyomitra montisserei (Squinabol), 3. Dictyomitra montisserei (Squinabol), 4. Dictyomitra gracilis (Squinabol), 5. Dictyomitra obesa (Squinabol), 6. Dictyomitra formosaSquinabol, 7. Dictyomitra formosa Squinabol, 8. Thanarla pulchra (Squinabol), 9. Pseudodictyomitra tiara (Holmes), 10. Stichomitra communis Squinabol, 11. Xitus spicularius(Aliev), 12. Xitus mclaughlini Pessagno, 13. Tuguriella pagoda (Squinabol), 14. Tuguriella pagoda (Squinabol), 15. Holocryptocanium geyserensis Pessagno, 16. Ultranapora sp., 17.Pseudodictyomitra sp.


Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to Professor Dr. RobertHall, Professor Dr. Ian Metcalfe and Dr. Chris Morley for their invi-tation to submit this paper. We thank the two anonymous review-ers for their suggestions and constructive comments.

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cretaceous radiolarians from baliojong ophiolite sequence, sabah, malaysia

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