Umar Hamzah

Thermal springs of Malaysia and their potential development

Abstract The study on the potential development of hot springs for the tourism industry in Malaysiawas conducted. Out of the 40 hot springs covered, the study identified 9 hot springs having a high potential for development, 14 having medium potential and the remaining 17 having low or least potential for development. This conclusion was arrived at after considering the technical and economic feasibility of the various hot springs. Technical feasibility criteria includes geological factors, water quality, temperature and flow rate. The economic feasibility criteria considers measures such as accessibility, current and market potentials in terms of visitors, surrounding attractions and existing inventory and facilities available. A geological input indicates that high potential hot springs are located close to or within the granite body and associated with major permeable fault zones. They normally occur at low elevation adjacent to topographic highs. High potential hot springs are also characterised by high water temperature, substantial flowrate and very good water quality which is important for water-body contact activities such as soaking. Economic criteria for high potential hot springs are associated with good accessibility, good market, good surrounding attractions like rural and village setting and well developed facilities and infrastructures.

Geological and structural interpretation of Peninsular Malaysia by marine and aeromagnetic data: Some preliminary results

Magnetic data were processed to interpret the geology of Peninsular Malaysia especially in delineating the igneous bodies and structural lineament trends by potential field geophysical method. A total of about 32000 magnetic intensity data were obtained from Earth Magnetic Anomaly Grid (EMAG2) covering an area of East Sumatra to part of South China Sea within 99° E to 105° E Longitude and 1° N to 7°N Latitude. These data were used in several processing stages in generating the total magnetic intensity (TMI), reduce to equator (RTE), total horizontal derivative (THD) and total vertical derivative (TVD). Values of the possible surface and subsurface magnetic sources associated to the geological features of the study area. The magnetic properties are normally corresponding to features like igneous bodies and faults structures. The anomalies obtained were then compared to the geological features of the area. In general, the high magnetic anomalies of the TMI-RTE are closely matched with major igneous intrusio...

Sequence stratigraphy of the pliocene deposits, Central Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

A sequence stratigraphic study of the Pliocene age sedimentary rocks was conducted in the central part of Taranaki basin, which is located offshore in the western coast of Taranaki Penisula, New Zealand. The study area is approximately 217.4.km2 consisting of an anticline cut by some faults in the southeastern part of the study area. The purpose of this study was to identify the seismic facies and to determine the seismic sequence stratigraphic boundaries of the Pliocene deposits. Ten seismic sections and three wells were used in this study where many seismic facies were detected such as parallel, sub-parallel, continuous, sub-continuous, wavy, free reflection, chaotic, high amplitude-high frequency and high amplitude-low frequency. Based on reflection terminations and seismic facies two sequence boundaries with their chronostratigraphic units were determined. Sequence boundary 1 (SB1) separates Giant Foresets Formation upper and Giant Foresets Formation middle formations. While sequence boundary 2 separa...

Analysis of Cheshire basin by gravity method: Some preliminary results

Gravity data acquired from Cheshire basin located in the northwestern part of the United Kingdom were processed and analysed to determine the structural pattern within the entire sedimentary basin. A total of 753 gravity data were obtained from the British Geological Society and with the aid of Oasis Montaj software, maps of Bouguer anomaly, isostatic and total horizontal derivative were obtained for qualitative and quantitative interpretation in determining the fault trend and the tectonic system of the study area. The positive Bouguer anomaly region found in the northwest of the study area is associated with the high density sedimentary rocks while the negative region in the southern part corresponds to low density sediments. The regional and local isostatic maps with different cut-off wavelengths reflect changes in anomalies corresponding to different types of sedimentary rocks. The general trends of faults in the Chesire basin are shown in the total horizontal derivative map of the Bouguer gravity val...

Analysis of ancient-river systems by 3D seismic time-slice technique: A case study in northeast Malay Basin, offshore Terengganu, Malaysia

Fluvial sandstones constitute one of the major clastic petroleum reservoir types in many sedimentary basins around the world. This study is based on the analysis of high-resolution, shallow (seabed to 500 m depth) 3D seismic data which generated three-dimensional (3D) time slices that provide exceptional imaging of the geometry, dimension and temporal and spatial distribution of fluvial channels. The study area is in the northeast of Malay Basin about 280 km to the east of Terengganu offshore. The Malay Basin comprises a thick (> 8 km), rift to post-rift Oligo-Miocene to Pliocene basin-fill. The youngest (Miocene to Pliocene), post-rift succession is dominated by a thick (1–5 km), cyclic succession of coastal plain and coastal deposits, which accumulated in a humid-tropical climatic setting. This study focuses on the Pleistocene to Recent (500 m thick) succession, which comprises a range of seismic facies analysis of the two-dimensional (2D) seismic sections, mainly reflecting changes in fluvial channel s...

Sequence stratigraphy of the Miocene, Pohokura field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

A sequence stratigraphic study of the Miocene age was conducted in the Pohokura field, that is located offshore from the northern coast of Taranaki Penisula, New Zealand. It is a low-relief, north-south elongated anticline approximately 16 km long and 5 km wide. The study was carried out with two objectives which are to identify the Miocene seismic facies and to identify the sequence stratigraphic parameters. One seismic line and Pohokura-2 well was use in the study. Various seismic facies were observed in the seismic section including parallel, subparallel, continuous, subcontinuous, wavy, free reflection, subchaotic, high amplitude-high frequency and high amplitude-low frequency reflection. The interpreted seismic line showed three chronostratigraphic units which is sequence boundary 1 (SB1) represent top Manganui, sequence boundary 2 (SB2) represent top Mount Messenger and sequence boundary 3 (SB3) represent top Urenui. SB1, was separated by two distinct seismic facies namely sub-parallel and sub-chaot...