The Geology of Indonesia/Stratigraphy/Introduction

The stratigraphical knowledge of the Indonesian Archipelago will be summarized in this chapter. A synopsis of the stratigraphy of the Netherlands East Indies has been published by BROUWER (1925) and L. M. R. RUTTEN (1927). In 1938 UMBGROVE gave a comprehensive review of the geological history of the East Indies. A number of important contributions to the stratigraphy which appeared in 1937-1938, not available to UMBGROVE, were summarized by SMIT SIBINGA (1940). L. M. R. RUTTEN (1948) and DE BEAUFORT (1948) reviewed the paleontological work carried out in the Netherlands for the Dutch Overseas Territories during the period 1918-1943.

Other important reviews on the stratigraphy of the Indian Archipelago are to be found in: The "MARTIN-Volume" of the "Leidsche Geologische Mededeelingen" (1931), in which a number of authors gives a review of the paleontological and stratigraphical data up to the year 1930; UMBGROVE (1934 b) on theNeogene, and(1935)on thePre-Tertiary; BADINGS (1936) on the Paleogene; STAUFFER (1945) on the stratigraphy of Indonesia; SMITH (1924, 1925) on the stratigraphy of the Philippines; MONTGOMERY, OSBORN and GLAESSNER on the stratigraphy of Eastern New Guinea 1); CHHIBBER (1934) on the stratigraphy of the Andamans and Nicobars.

In 1950, P. Marks, published Stratigraphic Lexicon of Indonesia, which is a compilation of formation names in Indonesia. The formation names are sorted in alphabetical order with their description, rough map of the localities, and summarized them in stratigraphic charts.

The first Indonesian Stratigraphic Nomenclature guide (Sandi Stratigraphy Indonesia) was published in 1973 by Soejono Martodjojo and Djuhaeni. This book was updated in 1996 and published electronically by the Indonesian Geologist Association. The file is available online in SSI-1996. Many publications related to sequence stratigraphy and seismic stratigraphy in Indonesia were published by the Indonesian Petroleum Assocation (IPA), the Indonesian Geological Association (IAGI)and other professional organizations. A compilation of updated article on biostratigraphy of SE Asia is currently being prepared by the Indonesian Sedimentologists Forum (FOSI), which aim to issue it in 2014. Another key source on the stratigraphy of Indonesia is the Geological Research and Development Centre of Indonesia (GRDC)

For the sake of brevity, in this chapter only some notes will be given on recent advances in our knowledge of the pre-tertiary stratigraphy. For the rest the reader is referred to the regional descriptions.

The tertiary and quaternary formations have a much wider distribution than the pre-tertiary rocks. Their stratigraphy is most important in the unraveling of the evolution of the younger mountain systems in this area. Therefore, the stratigraphy of the Tertiary and the Quaternary will be treated at some length in this chapter.