NMakassar3

Indonesia Offshore

Mangkalihat Platform Offshore

On this tentative interpretation is illustrated the transform fault between the Sunda and Molucca plate, in which the accretionary wedge and a forearc basin are well visible. Remind the Sunda Plate ( Sundaland Block) is surrounded in every direction by tectonically active convergent boundaries, below which are subducting: the Philippine Sea Plate to the East, and the Indo-Australian Plate to the South. The northern boundary is defined by its relatively slow, progressive collision with the Eurasian Plate which the Sundaland Block was once considered part of (Baroux, 1998 , https://tectonicsofasia.weebly.com/sunda-plate.html). The Molucca or Molucca Sea plate includes the north arm of Sulawesi and Molucca Sea. It has been confirmed that two subduction zones are converging in the Molucca Passage: the eastward-moving Sangihe subduction zone at the north tip of Sulawesi and the westward-moving Halmahera subduction zone locating along the west margin of MS. Talaud Mayu Ridge forms in between these two zones, marking the location of thrust contact. More recent studies suggest that MS has been completely subsumed by Sangihe and Halmahera (Silver and Moore, 1978). This tectonic setting is unique globally because it is the only example of an active arc-arc collision consuming an oceanic basin by opposite-direction subductions.