Geology

of
Singapore

Acknowledgments: Singapore Ministry of Education

funded ACrf Tier 1 Grant R-264-000-275-133

Topography and geology: Shuttle Radar

Topography Mission

Western

Digital elevation model shows

linear belts of mountains and valleys
www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/

Eastern

Topographic belts

Eastern Belt
Andean-type
subduction
granites
285 - 230 M yr
Western Belt
Himalayan-type
collision granites
220 200 M yr

Central Belt
Andean-type
subduction
granites
230 220 M yr

 Convergent Boundaries
Oceanic-Continental Boundaries

An oceanic plate and a continental plate converge, with the

denser oceanic plate being subducted under the continental
plate.
Just as with an oceanic-oceanic boundary, a chain of
volcanoes forms on the nonsubducted plate.

The present is the key to the past:

Andean-type Magmatic Arc above a Subduction Zone
Mountains
Pengerang andesite lava
and ash
Pengerang volcano

Cold + wet

crust

Singapore granite

Singapore granites

m
gen
Andean-Type Orogeny: oceanic + mantle melts = granites
with quartz + feldspar + biotite +/- hornblende

 Convergent Boundaries
Continental - Continental Boundaries

Two continents converge and the ocean floor separating them is

subducted, resulting in a collision between the two continents. Neither
plate will subduct.
When the two continents collide, they are welded together to form an
interior mountain chain along a zone marking the former site of
subduction.

Himalayan-type Orogeny: continental collision

= mountain belt
Everest 8.85 km

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=398700&section

India collides with Asia

Normal
crust 35 km
thick
Eurasia

Crust
Mantle
(Red-beds)

2 x thickened lower crust melts: granite magma is less dense than solid crust, rises and
crystallises as granite plutons in the middle and upper crust:
Himalayan granites have quartz, feldspar, biotite + muscovite

Biotite (black mica)

and hornblende
Glassy quartz

Black biotite

White
feldspar

Andean-type
biotite granite

Silvery muscovite (white mica)

Himalayan-type
muscovite granite

Granite
- Felsic intrusive igneous rock
- Granular and phaneritic or crystalline
- Predominantly white, pink, or grey in colour, depending on their mineralogy.

Hornblende
Complex mineral, composed of calcium-ironmagnesium silicate, aluminium-iron-magnesium silicate and
iron-magnesium silicate.
Muscovite
Most common mineral of the mica family. The mica group
of sheet silicate (phyllosilicate) minerals.

Biotite
Black mica minerals.

Diorite
- Intrusive igneous rock
- Silicate minerals feldspar (typically andesine),
biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene.
- Intermediate between mafic gabbro and felsic
granite.

Gabbro
- Dark coarse-grained mafic intrusive igneous rocks
- Oceanic crust is mostly formed of gabbro
- Slowly cooled holocrystalline mass

Geology of Johor and Singapore

Tait et al. (2008)

25 km

JOHOR BATHOLITH

Granite
Diorite
Gabbro

Central Belt

Carboniferous

Eastern Belt

Upper Triassic red-beds

Mid Triassic
volcanics
Oliver (2011)

Lets go to Little Guilin, ete....

Punggol Point
Pulau Tekong
P. Ubin
s
v
s

Geology Map of Singapore

Murai
Slate

Little
Guilin
WESTERN BELT

Dairy Farm
Quarry
EASTERN BELT
KEY
Recent alluvium
and land-fill

Kent Ridge
Sentosa
North

Old Alluvium
St Johns Is

10 km scale

Jurong Formation

Andesitic volcanics (v)

+ Sajahat Fm sediments (s)
Granite

Geology after Lee and Zhou (2009)

Gabbro

Little Guilin

Granite dyke
Gombak Gabbro

Fault

Gombak Gabbro 260 +/- 2 Ma

1 cm

White feldspar
Dark green pyroxene

Gabbro
inclusion

Granite
veins

Gomback gabbro cut by diorite,

cut by granite

Little Guilin Park: dark grey 260+/-2 Ma Gombak Gabbro

intruded by 250+/-2 Ma dyke of white Bukit Timah Granite;
therefore the granite is younger

Bukit Timah Granite: Dairy Farm Quarry

White feldspar
Glassy quartz
Larger black hornblende
Smaller black biotite
i.e. Andean-type Granite
244 +/- 2 Ma

Massive, equigranular granite

Gombak Gabbro
260+/-2, 254+/2,
249+/2, 246+/-2 Ma

Mandai Quarry
Granite 237
+/- 1 Ma

P. Ubin Ketam
Quarry Granite
230+/-6 Ma

P. Ubin Jetty
Diorite 95+/-1 Ma
Pulau Tekong

Punggol Pt

Little Guilin
Granite dyke
250+/-2 Ma

s
Dairy Farm
Granite
244+/-2Ma

Murai Slate

Pengerang
Volcanics
238+/-2Ma

KEY
Holocene Alluvium
and land-fill
Plio-Pleistocene
Old Alluvium
Upper Triassic Jurong Fm

Jurong Fm
detrital zircons
209+/-2 Ma to 2.7Ba

North

RESULTS OF
AGE DATING

10 km scale

Geology after Lee and Zhou (2009)

U-Pb zircon age dates (Oliver et al. 2011, unpub)

v Middle Triassic andesitic

volcanics and sediments
Middle Triassic granite
Permian gabbro
Devonian to
Murai Slate (?)Carboniferous?

Punggol Point
Boulders were quarried from Pengerang in nearby Johor

Geology of Johor and Singapore

Tait et al. (2008)

25 km

Pengerang
Quarries

Punggol

P. Tekong
volcanics

Oliver (2011)

Flow banded rhyolite lava

Zircon, U/Pb age of Pengerang Volcanics 10 km to the W in Johor

= 238+/-5 Ma (Oliver et al. 2014)

<10 cm

Brick-sized andesite bombs and ash explosively

erupted from an Andean-type volcano not far away

Murapi Volcano 2011 = Eastern Singapore, 238 million years ago

Biggest bombs fall nearest the crater

Clast size Pengerang: 10 cm = <1 km from source

P. Tekong
Andesitic volcanic ash

Eastern Belt, Andean

biotite + hornblende
granites

Middle
Triassic andesite
volcanoes
The granite intrusions are the magma
chambers for the volcanoes (same age)

Pengerang Volcano
238+/-2 Ma
25 km

Mandai Granite
237 +/22 Ma

Geology: Tait et al. (2008). Ages from Oliver et al. ( 2014)

Siam/Burma/Malaya/Sumatra = SIBUMASU

Petronas (1999)

Plate Tectonic Reconstructions

(Palaeogeography)

290 Ma

After Metcalfe 1996

210 Ma
Same
fauna

Exotic
fauna

SP
KL

SP
Suture
KL

Palaeomagnetics
3,500 km apart

Glacial marine
Aussi fauna

NC = North China
SC = South China
EM = Eastern Malaya (SP)

WB = West Borneo
S = Sibumasu incl Western Malaysia (KL)
WC = Western Cimmerian Continent

Cartoons to illustrate the plate tectonic

evolution of the Singapore region
a) Permian 290 250 Ma
Western Belt

3,500 km wide

Glacials

Sibumasu
crust

Central Belt

Palaeo

Tethys

Vertical scale = 25 km
Horiz scale = 100 km

Lithosphere
Asthenosphere

Eastern Belt
Magmatic arc + tin mineralisation
Andean-type 264 Ma(3)
margin crust
Sibu 285-276 Ma(1)
Mantle
melts

Sibumasu = Siam Burma Malaya Sumatra

Sibumasu (without any tin mineralisation) is drifting towards the Andean-type margin of
Eastern Malaysia like an ice berg drifts across the sea. A shallow dipping subduction
zone consumes the Palaeo Tethys Ocean and forms the tin-bearing magmatic arc in the
east of the Eastern Belt
Siam/Burma/Malaya/Sumatra = SIBUMASU

b) Lower to Middle Triassic 260 230 Ma

Pengerang Volcano 238 Ma(1)

Passive margin

Andean-type

tin-granites
Singapore
gabbro + granites
260-230 Ma(1)

Subduction zone steepens as slab rolls back and magmatic arc moves westwards
to produce tin-mineralisation and magmatism in the Singapore area. Deep sea sediments are scraped off the down going slab to form an accretionary prism

c) Upper Triassic 230 -200 Ma: Indosinian Orogeny

Granite mountains

Himalayan-type tin-granites
NeoTethys

219-198 Ma(3)
W. Belt

Tin-bearing lower
crustal melts?
Indosinian Orogeny

Jurong Fm
Central
Belt

Eastern Belt
Singapore

The subduction zone steepens further and magmatism occurs in the Central Belt.
The Palaeo Tethys Ocean is finally consumed and the Western Belt has collided
with the Central Belt forming the Bentong-Raub suture zone (BRS).
The lower crust of the Central Belt is melted and forms tin-bearing Himalayan-type
granite mountains in the upper crust of the Western Belt.
This is the Indosinian Orogeny.
The Jurong (red bed) Formation is deposited in Singapore as the mountains are eroded..

Lets go to Pulau Tekong: Pulau Sajahat

Granite
230+/-6Ma
s

Diorite
95+/-2Ma

Pulau Tekong
Andesite
238+/-4Ma
s

Granite
244+/2Ma

Gabbro
260+/-2 Ma

P. Sajahat

KEY
Jurong Formation
youngest = 209+/-2 Ma
North

Recent alluvium
and land-fill
Old Alluvium
Jurong Formation

10 km scale

Andesitic volcanics (v)

and sediments (s = Sajahat)
Granite

Geology after Lee and Zhou (2009)

Gabbro

Tanjong Renggam

Pulau Tekong
Pulau Sajahat
Tanjong Batu Koyok

Sajahat Formation : Unknown age. No fossils, no age dating

Either Lower Palaeozoic Or same age as Pengerang Volcanics? (Lee & Zhou 2009)

Thick beds of sandstone: Tanjong Batu Koyok

Sheared mudstone, Tanjong Renggam

X 45 magnification

Contact metamorphosed Sajahat sandstone

Spotted hornfels, Tanjong Renggam

Vertical outcrop on Pulau Sajahat trends 015oE

Folded

Sharp sandy base

Muddy inter-bed

Silty top

Turbidite
Graded bedding

Sharp sandy
base
Mud

Turbidites form
submarine fans

Deep sea muds

Flat lying folds

Flat lying folds in biotite schists;

regional metamorphism at ~450oC

Complex faulting, folding and regional metamorphism

not seen in other rocks, cut by granite: Sajahat Formation
is the oldest rock in Singapore? Compares well with the
Mersing Beds in Johor: deposited in the Carboniferous?

Repeated shearing in Sajahat Formation

Unmetamorphosed folded and faulted granite vein

What is the age of the metamorphism?

Find the Murai Schist

Murai Schist

Murai Schist is actually a slate = low grade

regional metamorphism. Age?

Mud, squeezed and regionally

metamorphosed (at 370/400oC) to form
slate. Gombak Gabbro is not regionally
metamorphosed. Therefore, the Murai
Slate is older than the 260 Ma gabbro.
Same slates on Bintan.
Age of deposition
Carboniferous?
and metamorphism? Carboniferous?.

Lets look at the Jurong Formation

Jurong
Mt Faber
Mt Guthrie

Rimau Pt
Sentosa
North
.

10 km scale

Jurong Formation: conglomerate,

sandstone, mudstone, limestone

Geology after Lee and Zhou (2009)

Fossil localities

Marine fossils in the Jurong Formation (from Lee & Zhou, 2009)

Scallops

Plicatula cf carinata (Healy) LateTriassic

Palaeonucula sp

Corals from the Pandan Limestone, Jurong Formation

Red and purple mudstones, Sentosa.

Continental red-beds

Worm burrows, Sentosa

Dinosaur foot prints? Sentosa

Lake beds Queenstown Facies

in gravel

Seasonal rhythms in lake beds?

V
IV

III

II

Claw marks of a dinosaur in red lake mud?

A loose boulder lying in the grass outside the Geography Department.

Is this a foot print?

Cretaceous Dinosaurs: Khorat Plateau

Fossilised (woody?) vegetation, pieces of conifer, cycad or tree fern? Now coal + goethite

Rythmic red, purple, and

white mudstone and siltstone

Lake deposits

White siltstone above

thin bedded sandstone

River sands

Channelised
Sandstones

River delta
flowing into lake

NE

Conglomerates and sandstones at Remau Point

SW

KEY
Pleistocene Old
Alluvium
Jurong Formation
(white) with Queenstown Facies lake
beds (blue)
Middle Triassic
Granite
Rivers flowing into the sea
i.e. deltaic marine

Permian Gabbro

Painted by W. Sillins. Downloaded from http://www.willsillin.com/Natural%20History.html

Artists impression of what Singapore might have looked like looking north from the
vicinity of Sentosa in the Late Triassic Period, 200 million years ago before the
mountains were eroded away to low hills.
In the distance: the Bukit Timah Fault scarp and the Bukit Timah Granite and Gombak
Gabbro form the hills behind. Note the volcanic ash clouds.
In the foreground: braided rivers drain into Lake Sentosa.
The dinosaur in the front centre is the predator Coelophysis .

Singapore palaegeography during the Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic (~200 Ma)

North
Indosinian Mountains
Lake

Structural template

Bukit Timah
Fault trends NW/SE

Murai
Slate

Bukit Timah
Fault Scarp

Note distribution of lakes, swamps, rivers, fault scarps, alluvial fans. Shaded area is
Lake Sentosa. Lake valley forms due to extensional tectonics.
(After Fraser et al.1995).

Singapore palaegeography during the Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic

North
Indosinian Mountains

Structural template

Bukit Timah
Fault trends NW/SE

Murai
Slate

Bukit Timah
Fault Scarp

Rise in sea level, +/- subsidence rate > rate of deposition = syn-rift basin with marine,
lake, river and alluvial facies: Extensional tectonics continue
(After Fraser et al.1995).

Geology Map of Singapore (after Lee & Zhou 2009) with the contact of the Jurong
Formation and the Singapore Granites drawn as the Bukit Temah Fault. Note folds in JF.
P. Ubin Jetty
Diorite 95+/-1 Ma

Murai
Slate

P. Sajahat
Dolerite: age?

s
s

folds

Recent alluvium
and land-fill

Old Alluvium
Jurong Formation

Andesitic volcanics (v)

and sediments (s)
Granite

North

St Johns
.

10 km scale

Gabbro

Geology after Lee and Zhou (2009)

and Oliver et al. (2011)

Singapores greatest natural asset is its

location as a deep water seaport near the
center of SE Asia on the cross roads between
the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

If it was not for plate tectonics, Singapore

would not be where it is today and what it is
today.

http://www.geekculture.com/geekycomics/mosquitocreek