SUTURE ZONES IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA AND THAILAND - IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOTECTONIC RECONSTRUCTION OF SOUTHEAST-ASIA

The existence of one or more long suture zones extending from Thailand to peninsular Malaysia has been widely accepted in almost ail palaeot ectonic reconstruction of southeast Asia. Geological evidence from the areas where suture zones have been proposed in these two countries ar e not reconcilable with many of the inferences and interpretations of the geology on which the palaeotectonic models are based. With the pos sible exception of the Nan-Uttaradit suture in Thailand, the relations hip of the other proposed 'sutures' to subduction processes must be re garded as highly doubtful. Correlating geological belts from north Tha iland to southern peninsular Malaysia is extremely difficult, given th e present limited state of our knowledge of the geology in these two g eologically complex regions. Correlation, based on simple classificati on of granites and their implied geotectonic setting can be misleading . The timing of the proposed collision event to bring together the Gon dwana terrain with the Asian terrain, as envisaged in the popular reco nstruction scheme, remains one of the most crucial problem which needs to be addressed by those advocating this concept. Palaeontological, s tratigraphical, igneous, metamorphic and structural evidence, which ca n shed light on this difficult question, give conflicting ages for the major orogenic events in this region. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd