The Banda Arc (main arc, Inner, and Outer) is a dual chain of islands in eastern Indonesia that is around 2,300 km long. It is the result of the collision of a continent and an intra-oceanic island arc.
The presently active volcanic arc is mounted on stretched continental and oceanic crust whereas the associated subduction trench is underlain by continental crust, which has subducted deep enough to contaminate the volcanic arc with continental melts.[1] The island of Timor is notable for the lack of volcanic activity. This is due to the island representing the zone of fore-arc and continental collision which prevents volcanic activity from occurring.[2]
The convergence of the Indo-Australian plates and Eurasia resulted in the formation of the Sunda and Banda island arcs. The transitional zone between the arcs is located south of Flores Island and is characterized by the change in the tectonic regime along the boundary in the Timor Region.[3][4]
Some academic literature refers to the arcs by location – so that the main arc can be referred to as the 'southern',[5] the 'western' [6] Situated at the centre of three converging and colliding major tectonic plates, Indo-Australia, Eurasia, Pacific, the Banda arc includes young oceanic crust enclosed by a volcanic inner arc, outer arc islands and a trough parallel to the Australian continental margin. It is a complex subduction setting (where one plate moves under another, sinking into the Earth's mantle), with possibly the largest foldonEarth, extending to a depth of about 650 km (404 mi), in a subducted plate.[7] Although the Australian Continental crust does not subduct, the sub-crustal mantle lithosphere that is attached to the Australian plate continues to subduct underneath the Eurasian Plate. This subduction continues to pull the Australian Plate in a northward direction today.[2]
The Outer Banda Arc consists of Australian continental margin cover units that were scrapped off the Australian plate and added to the southern edge of the Asian plate. The oldest sedimentary rocks in these islands are from the Early Permian. The Banda arc-continent collision is still active and converging at a rate of 7 cm/a. It stretches from Savu through Rote, Timor, Leti, Babar, Tanimbar, and the Kai Islands, before turning west to Seram, Ambon, and Buru. The outer arc is geologically associated with the Australian continent, though it is a more recent accretion than the neighboring Aru Islands.
The island of Timor provides an excellent landscape for understanding the arc-continent collision that is taking place. Although previous interpretations of the island of Timor have placed it as an accretionary wedge, it is in fact a mixture of Banda fore-arc volcanic rocks and the Australian continental margin [2]
The resulting feature is a 180-degree island arc, which is more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) long. Geographically, it stretches across eastern Indonesia, and is delimited by an active inner volcanic arc. The outer arc contains numerous islands, and its internal geologic structure contains young oceanic crust exclusively.[8]
^D. J. Whitford; P. A. Jezek (1979). "Origin of late-cenozoic lavas from the Banda arc, Indonesia: Trace element and Sr isotope evidence". Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology. 68 (2): 141–150. Bibcode:1979CoMP...68..141W. doi:10.1007/BF00371896. S2CID128805460.
^Chamalaun, F. H; Sunata, Wahyu; Institute for Australasian Geodynamics; Flinders University. School of Earth Sciences; Workshop on Palaeomagnetic Research in Southeast and East Asia (1982 : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) (1982), Progress report on the paleomagnetism of the Western Banda Arc system, Institute for Australasian Geodynamics, retrieved 21 December 2014{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^University of Royal Holloway London (July 27, 2010). "Indonesia's puzzling Banda arc: New findings explain mystery behind geological development".
Audley-Charles, MG (1986). "Timor–Tanimbar Trough: the foreland basin of the evolving Banda orogen". Spec. Publs Int. Ass. Sediment. 8: 91–102.
Harris, RA (2011). "The Nature of the Banda Arc–Continent Collision in the Timor Region". Arc-Continent Collision. Frontiers in Earth Sciences. pp. 163–211. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-88558-0_7. ISBN978-3-540-88557-3.
