Journal of Applied Geology, vol. 5(2), 2020, pp. 124–140 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22146/jag.61183 Petrography and Geochemistry of Metasedimentary Rocks from the Taku Schist in Kelantan, North-East Peninsular Malaysia Muhammad Irman Khalif Ahmad Aminuddin1,2, Nugroho Imam Setiawan*1, I Wayan Warmada1, Kamar Shah Ariffin2, and Kotaro Yonezu3 1Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia 2School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Penang 14300, Malaysia 3Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu University, 819-0395, Fukuoka, Japan ABSTRACT. The Taku Schist, located in north-east Peninsular Malaysia, is characterized by its North-South oriented elongated body. It forms part of the Indosinian orogenic build-up generated by the convergence of the Sibumasu continental block and Sukhothai Arc. Pet- rographic analyses of the metasedimentary rocks sourced from the Taku Schist revealed that the formation was attributable to greenschist’s metamorphism into amphibolite fa- cies, which could be observed near the Triassic and Cretaceous intrusions of the Kema- hang Granite. The evolution process of the rocks could be linked with the interactions between a contact and regional metamorphisms. The resulting of XRF and ICP-MS geo- chemical analyses upon the assessment disclosed that the metasedimentary rocks of Taku Schist were made up of greywacke and shale, grouped into the quartzose sedimentary protolith, and belonged to the Continental Island Arc (CIA). It reflects the Taku Schist’s episodic contractions, wherein they would lead to the Sibumasu sedimentary cover along with both an accretionary wedge and the genetically-correlated Bentong-Raub mélange to different greenschist. Otherwise associated with amphibolite facies, the facies’ conditions and depths were determined according to their position with the Sukhothai Arc’s upper plate. Keywords: Peninsular Malaysia · Taku Schist · South-East Asia · Indosinian orogen. 1I NTRODUCTION tary rocks will be beneficial in evaluating the The metasedimentary rocks of Taku Schist in crucial determinants of both pre-metamorphic the north-east region of Peninsular Malaysia sedimentary and orogenic evolutions, as well formulate a percentage of the Indosinian oro- as their path. Furthermore, research efforts genic and post-orogenic structures found in on protolith analysis will also yield novel in- Southeast Asia. These rocks’ formation re- sight regarding the compositional differences sulted from subduction and collision experi- of a depositional environment, protolith, trans- enced by the Sibumasu continental block and port, and the source and sink’s geotectonic loca- Sukhothai Arc during the Permo-Triassic pe- tion. Accordingly, a metamorphosed sediment riod (Metcalfe, 2002; Ferrari et al., 2008; Ridd, and its composition represent its history and 2012; Morley, 2012). An assessment of the petro- initial evolution, whereas its mineral composi- logical and geochemical properties of sedimen- tion reveals the subsequent development. Re- gardless, geochemical research efforts encom- passing the significant elements and immobile *Corresponding author: N.I. SETIAWAN, Depart- ment of Geological Engineering, Universitas Gadjah trace elements, including rare earth elements, Mada. Jl. Grafika 2 Yogyakarta, Indonesia. E-mail: are likely to be beneficial as reactive indicators [email protected] 2502-2822/© 2020 The Authors. Open Access and published under the CC-BY license. PETROGRAPHY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF METASEDIMENTARY ROCKS FROM THE TAKU SCHIST,KELANTAN of source rocks and tectonic setting. Hence- Moreover, they experienced intrusions due to forth, this work aims to differentiate newly- no small pluton (Kemahang granite) and re- obtained data from protolith studies on South- main in the proximity of non-metamorphosed east Asia basins, specifically the Taku Schist to sub-greenschist facies Permo–Triassic sed- in North-East Peninsular Malaysia. This study iments (Ali et al., 2016; Hutchison, 2009 and will undoubtedly contribute towards the body Khoo and Lim, 1983). Meanwhile, the Taku of knowledge on the regional geodynamic en- Schist itself presents a north-south elongated vironment and tectonic setting. body characterized by 80 km-long and 8 to 22 km-wide dimensions. In general, the non- 2R EGIONAL GEOLOGY fossiliferous Taku schist’s age could not be The formation of the Indosinian orogeny in accurately determined but is presumed to be Peninsular Malaysia was dated back to the of the Permo-Triassic period (Khoo and Lim, Devonian–Permian subduction and Paleo– 1983). Tethys Ocean closure due to the Triassic col- lision between the East Malaya Block and 3M ETHODOLOGY Sibumasu continental unit (Metcalfe, 2000). Taku Schist belongs to north-east Peninsular Figure 1a shown the sequel of the subduction Malaysia and reveals a vast exposure of meta- and collision events, which have separated the morphic rocks originated from the sediments Peninsular Malaysia into three parallel belts and subordinate magmatic rocks that will meta- according to their variations of magmatism, morphose into greenschist-amphibolite facies stratigraphy, mineralization, structure, and in the later stages. The approximate sampling metamorphism (Hutchison, 1975 and Metcalfe, locations of metasedimentary rocks are marked 2013). Furthermore, in-depth geochemical and in Figure 2 accordingly. absolute age-dating works have concluded In total, 13 metasedimentary rock samples that the primarily sedimentary Central Belt were collected from the research area. The sub- separates the Permian–Lower Triassic I-type sequent thin section sample preparation pro- Eastern Belt and Late Triassic S-type Western cesses and petrographic analyses were carried Belt (Ghani et al., 2013; Ng et al., 2015 and out at Economic Geology Laboratory, Depart- Searle et al., 2012). The intrusion of plutons ment of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu into a well-documented sedimentary succes- University, Fukuoka, Japan. Petrographic thin sion depicts the measured shift from shallow sections were prepared to identify the textu- to deep marine environments, thereby impact- ral characteristics and the secondary minerals ing the regionally metamorphosed rocks to of rocks through observation using a Nikon different degrees. Such effect includes the ac- Eclipse E600 POL microscope equipped with an cretionary mélange housing the mafic rocks of AdvanCam-U3II camera. the Bentong–Raub suture zone (Ali et al., 2016). Geochemistry analyses for 13 samples of Accordingly, the area has been positioned as metasedimentary rocks from Taku Schist were the suture connecting the Sibumasu and East analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Malaya Block/Sukhothai Arc (Metcalfe, 2000; Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrom- Metcalfe, 2013 and Hutchison, 2009). In partic- etry (ICP-MS) methods. For XRF, before the ular, the Taku Schist of North-East Peninsular analysis, one 1 gram of each sample was com- Malaysia as depicted in Figure 1b is notable busted in an electric furnace at 1000°C for 2 due to the varying grades of metamorphic hours to determine the LOI value. Pressed rocks lying close to the Late Cretaceous mag- powdered samples were prepared by pressing matic intrusions (Searle et al., 2012; Hutchison, at 20 MPa for about 2 minutes in vinyl chloride 2009; Khoo and Lim, 1983 and Ghani, 2000). rings. A Rigaku RIX 3100 XRF spectrometer Therefore, this region’s metasediments was utilized in the analysis to determine the have displayed several properties, including bulk major, minor, and trace elemental compo- greenschist-amphibolite facies metamorphism, sitions of the pressed powdered samples. The an extensive deformation fabric, and resid- research’s measurement conditions considered ual metamorphosed mafic or acid intrusive. were 30 kV, and 70 mA, and the JA-3 andesite Journal of Applied Geology 125 AMINUDDIN et al. 100OE 105OE 110OE 1a Paleo-Tethys Suture Zone Myanmar Sukhothai Island-arc System West 0 500km Burma Block Laos O Figure 2 20 N 1b T H A I L A N D Lebir Fault N Thailand Indochina Tanah Terrane Merah Machang Baling Jeli K E D A H RESEARCH Cambodia Bentong-Raub Suture Zone Suture Bentong-Raub AREA Bok Bak Fault Chanthaburi Terrane Kuala Krai Lebir Fault ANDAMAN Sukhothai and SEA Gerik K E L A N T A N 10ON Sibumasu Bok Bak Fault Terrane P E R A K Lebir Fault Bok Bak Fault Gua Musang Kuala Kangsar 05ON Fig.1b Malaysia West Sumatra Block East P A H A N G Malaya Block Tanah Rata LEGENDS Quaternary clay, silt, sand with minor gravel Acid intrusive rock Jurassic-Cretaceous cross-bedded sandstone with Major Fault subordinate conglomerate and shale/mudstone Triassic interbedded sandstone, siltstone and shale; widespread volcanics mainly tuff Minor Fault Permian-Triassic bedded limestone Thailand Permian phyllite, slate and shale with subordinate sandstone and schist Carboniferous-Permian schist, phyllite, slate, metasandstone, sandstone, shale and chert with minor limestone Carboniferous phyllite, slate, shale and sandstone Silurian-Devonian argillaceous; slate, phyllite, schist and pelitic hornfels, calc- sillicate facies; calc-sillicate hornfels, and impure limestone; and sandstone Ordovician-Silurian schist, phyllite, slate and limestone FFigureIGURE 1. 1: (a) Simplified (a) Simplified tectonic maptectonic of Peninsular map Malaysiaof Peninsular in terms ofMalaysia Asia continental in terms units andof sutureAsia zonescontinental (modified units after Metcalfe,and