Continental block collision in the eastern arm of Sulawesi (Indonesia). Structure and geodynamic interpretation

Abstract Recent investigations in East Indonesia lead us to consider the eastern arm of Sulawesi as the result of a collision between two continental blocks: the Tokala block to the west and the Banggai–Sula block to the east. The Tokala block results from the Oligocene obduction of an ophiolitic Asiatic basin onto the passive margin of a Gondwanian block (Banda block), with collision with the Asiatic active margin (western arm of Sulawesi) near the end of the Oligocene or at the beginning of the Miocene. The Tokala Block was then collided by the Irian Jaya derived Banggai–Sula block in the Early to Middle Pliocene times or later.