XI.

1 INTRODUCTION
The Gorontalo Basin situated in the East Arm of Sulawesi, which has not mapped or
explored in detail in the past (Figure 1). However, there are sufficient leads to interest
the hydrocarbon exploration. Gas and oil seeps are known to occur on the north coast of
the EastArm. Recently, ALF survey has detected oil-derived fluor anomalies at many
spots in the Tomini Bay.

XL2 REGIONAL GEOLOGY

X1.2.1 Tectonic Setting A. West and North Suiawesi
The formation of Sulawesi was initiated by rifting of the eastern part of Kalimantan in
Upper Cretaceous to Eocene time and then formed the West Sulawesi and its neck.
Subduction zones are postulated at two places during the Paleogene.A west-dipping .
subduction zone in the west affected West Sulawesi, and east-dipping one in the east
affected North (N-S trending), East, and Southeast Sulawesi. The westward movement of
the Pasific Plate during the Miocene shortened the distance between West Sulawesi and
East and East/Southeast Sulawesi, while the North Arm rotated in clockwise direction. As
the Pasific Plate movement continued in Pliocene time, North Sulawesi was rotated
further until 900.
Plio-Pleistocene collision yielded various types of quaternary volcanic rocks in West and
North Sulawesi, uplifted these regions and produced NW-SE strike-slip faults such as the
major Gorontalo Fault. Regarding by Katili (1970), the NW-SE trending Gorontalo Fault
are regarded as right-lateral strike-slip faults (Figure 2).
B. West-Central and East Sulawesi
Early Cretaceous flysch sediments show pinch and swell structures in the highly sheared
shale and are involved in the imbrication. It has to be considered as continental margin
deposit of the Banggai-Sula micro-continent. Neogene subduction has taken place in the
Mio-Pliocene time.
Collision probably took place as early as the Plio-Pleistocene and resulted in a general
uplift of the EastArm, following by erosion and deposition. Thrusting of oceanic crust over
younger sediments and took place in a marginal basin that located in Tomori Basin
(Figure 2). The Batui thrust fault and the Balantak strike-slip fault were probably formed
by the Plio-Pleistocene collision.
XL2.2 Stratigraphy
Regional stratigraphy of the Gorontalo Basin can be divided into two region, they are: the
neckofwest and north Sulawesi and east Sulawesi (Figure 3).
The Neck of West and North Sulawesi Mesozoic
Metamorphic Rocks
The oldest rocks in this area are Mesozoic greenschists and gneisses and widely
distributed around Parigi at the Neck and Ogutumulu and Moutong in North Sulawesi.
Tertiary Granitic Rocks
The Tertiary plutonic intrusions in the neck area and N. Sulawesi have a granitic
composition and in age Eocene to Piiocene.
Tertiary to Quaternary Volcanic Rocks:
Synorogenic Paleogene Sediments
This sediment is the Tinombo Group which consists of Upper Cretaceous turbidites,
olisostromes and melange complex; lying unconformably above Mesozoic metamorphic
rocks. The rocks have a wide distribution from the Neck of West to North Sulawesi. The
age is Upper Cretaceous to Early Oligocene and in deep to shallow marine environments.
Post-orogenic Neogene Sediments
The lower part of these sediments consists of sandstone, shale, greywacke and limestone
and was deposited in shallow marine during E. Miocene to U. Miocene. In North Sulawesi,
these sediments include turbidite deposits of Dolokapa and Randangan
Formations. The upper part of these sediments consists of coarse clastic sediments of
marine to non-marine environment.
Quaternary Volcanic rock
Quaternary volcanic rock lies unconformably above Pre-Tertiary and Tertiary rocks.
East SulawesiMesozoic Metamorphic Rocks
These sediments consist of schists, phyllites, slates and Triassic metasandstones of the
Ampana and Bunta Formations.
Mesozoic Ultramafic Rocks
The ultramafic rocks are associated with mafics and comprise serpentinized ultramafic,
gabbro, basalt and diorite and in age Triassic or older.
Mesozoic Sedimentary Rocks
The Nanaka Formation consists of sandstones, coal, conglomerate and marl. The age is
Jurrasic. The Cretaceous Nambo Formation contains marl and shale with Belemnite
fossils. The Lamusa Formation consists of limestone intercalated with marl and quartzite.
The Matano Formation contains calcilutite and argillite.
Tertiary Sedimentary Rocks Synorogenic Oligo-Miocene sediments The Oligocene to
Upper Miocene Salodik Group consists of limestone and dolomite and was deposited in
the East Arm. The carbonate with the turbid ite-olisostrome-melange sediments of the
Tinombo Group existed in the Neck and the NorthArm.
Post-orogenic Upper Miocene-Pleistocene sediments
Sulawesi Group/Celebes Molasse consists of Kintom, Biak, and Kolomba Formations. The
Kintom Formation is Upper Miocene to Lower Pliocene, consists of claystone, siltstone,
conglomeratic sandstone, and thin limestone layers. Biak Formation is dominated by
conglomeratic sandstone with minor claysfone and siltstone. The Kalomba Formation lies
unconformably above Biak, consisting of conglomerate and sandstone in Pleistocene time
which is in shallow marine to non-marine deposition.

XL2.3 Depositional Setting

The Gorontalo Basin is a trough-like back-arc basin in the east part of Tomini Bay, which
was initially formed in Paleogene time by eastward subduction. The North Arm of
Sulawesi became an active volcanic arc which separated the Minahasa fore-arc basin
from the Gorontalo back-arc basin.
Tertiary deposition in the Gorontalo area started in the Eocene. The source of sediments
was probably from the uplifted Mesozoic basement rocks. Erosion of the metamorphic
and meta-sedimentary rocks produced fine clastics. The presence of a thick submarine
fan turbidite sandstone layers indicate that sedimentation in the Gorontalo back-arc basin
was unstable during this period.
During Mio-Pliocene, post-collision sedimentation took place in stable basin. The
sediments consist of shallow marine shale, sandstone, siltstone, and claystone of the
Dolokapa and Randangan Formations. Volcanic activity caused by subduction during this
period produced volcanic material which became the source of volcaniclastics and
greywacke in shallow and deep marine environments. The stable shallow marine part of
the area became the site of development of reef limestones of the Ratatotok Formation.
Post-collision non-marine sediments were found as conglomerate and very coarse
sandstone. They might have developed partly as graben-fill and partly as alluvial fan or
braided river deposit.
XL3 HYDROCARBON POTENTIAL
Satellite gravity has shown that oceanic crust underlies the Gulf of Tomini on the east
side of the NW-SE Gorontalo Fault. Two deep sea sedimentary basins occur to the west of
the fault. The basin which lies to the east is the trough like Gorontalo Basin. Existing
sediment isopach maps is about 4000 m in thick of sediments in Gorontalo Basin and
have probably incredible the thickness of fill.
Various sedimentary rock units whether Tertiary or Pre-tertiary contain potential source
rocks like shale and carbonate; as well as potential reservoir rocks like coarse clastics
and carbonate.
Hydrocarbon leads and geochemical analysis have proven that hydrocarbons were
already generated, and the hydrocarbons are seeping out at many places in the Gulf of
Tomini and in the East Arm, probably along major faults. High gas content allows long
-distance migration of the hydrocarbons.
Geochemical analysis has shown that the hydrocarbons were generated by multiple
sources, carbonate as well as fine clastics, whether Tertiary or Pre-tertiary rocks make an
attractive area for exploration. The sources are most probably located in the western part
of the Gulf, where most of theALF anomalies occur.

References
BEICIP,1982, Petroleum Potential of Eastern Indonesia.
PT Geoservice Ltd, 1993, Hydrocarbon Potential of Gorontalo Basin, Report for
PertaminaJian Ep.