Stratigraphy and tectonic setting of the Cretaceous and Paleogene volcanic-sedimentary successions in northwest Sulawesi, Indonesia: implications for the Cenozoic evolution of Western and Northern Sulawesi

The tectonic relationship between the two domains is not clear. They probably formed a more or less continuous belt throughout the Cenozoic, but were definitely connected not later than the early Miocene. Strong deformation in the Paleogene formations in the northern part of NW Sulawesi and their unconformable relationship with the overlying formations may be the result of the collision of the north arm of Sulawesi with a continental fragment, of Australian derivation, during the early Miocene, or it may be related to the formation of a metamorphic core complex in a mid-Miocene extensional tectonic setting. A second major tectonic event, which commenced in the Pliocene and is still ongoing, affected the entire region.