ORIGIN OF BUTON ISLAND

Buton and its neighboring islands forming the southernmost extension of Southeast Sulawesi orogenic belt is related to a westward-dipping tectonic subduction on the east. This island includes within the non-volcanic Banda Arc, like Tukang Besi, Buru and Seram. Latest hypothesis suggests that those islands were originally a submerged micro-continental fragment which break up from the Australian mainland and drifted away until they collided with Southeast Sulawesi in the early Middle Miocene, and deformed. Figure 1. below interprets the drifting track.

Figure 1. Drifting track interpretation of Buton micro-continent fragment

split up from Australian continent.

The original micro-continent fragmented into Tukang Besi, Sula and Buru segments when collided with Southeast Sulawesi. The Tukang Besi and Buton were attached to Southeast Sulawesi, while the other segments drifted away toward the north and ultimately stuck to East Sulawesi. Due to above mentioned collision, right lateral slip and subsequent rotation of Buton to the north followed in the Pliocene which cause the present orientation of Buton.