Titiwangsa Mountains - Geology

Geology

The Titiwangsa Mountains is part of suture zones that runs north-south, starting in Thailand (Nan-Uttaradit/Dien Bien Phu suture zone) and extending south towards peninsular Malaysia (Bentong-Raub suture zone). The western half of Titiwangsa Mountains in peninsular Malaysia is an amalgamation of continental terranes that is known as Cimmeria or Indochina, whereas the eastern half is an amalgamation of continental terranes Sinoburmalaya or Sibumasu. These two halves of terranes were separated by Paleo-Tethys Ocean.

The Cimmeria was separated from Gondwana around 400mya during Devonian and rifted towards Laurasia, the northeastern arm of Pangea. It attached to Laurasia completely around 280mya during Late Permian

Sibumasu terranes on the other hand, only started to separate from Gondwana during Early Permian and rifted towards Indochina. The collision of Sibumasu terranes and Indochina terranes during 200mya Late Triassic resulted in the closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean and formation of the modern Titiwangsa Mountain belts.

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