Van Bemmelen's contributions to the growth of geotectonics and the present state of earth-science research in Indonesia

Abstract

The undation theory launched more than half a century ago in Indonesia by Van Bemmelen had a tremendous impact on the development of earth sciences. An attempt is made to trace Van Bemmelen's scientific activities prior to the birth of the undation theory. First envisaged as a fixistic concept, the theory was later developed into a mobilistic one which accommodates continental drift and sea-floor spreading hypothesis. However, instead of accepting the theory of extensive rigid plates it utilised a rheological approach in dealing with island arcs. A geotectonic evolution of Indonesia is presented in this paper. Recent marine geophysical findings which appear to contradict the results of prior geological investigations are also discussed. Problems and present status of geoscientific research in Indonesia are also discussed such as active collision processes, mechanism of ophiolite emplacement, geometry of subducted lithosphere etc.