Abstract: Sedimentation and Lithofacies Relations in the Holocene Pahang Delta Complex, East Coast Malay Peninsula, Malaysia

Mohamad Zahoor Farshori, Ahmad Jantan

A detailed study of the Pahang River Delta was undertaken in order to understand the development, architecture, geometrical characteristics, and structural sequential organization of the sand bodies on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The present delta indicates that although marine wave regimes are dominant, as exhibited by cuspate-shaped delta, fluvial and tidal influences are substantial, as evident from the bedforms and sand bars morphology.

The Pahang Delta system provides a unique case study for a tropical fluvio-marine windwave-dominated delta, which was profoundly influenced by seasonal storms. The deltaic sand is coarse and moderately sorted, and contains abundant clay clasts.

The southern coastline of the Pahang Delta is continuously modified by the erosive attack of the storms waves. The delta is subjected to extremely high-energy storm waves and fluvially formed sand bodies, such as channel mouth bars, dominant in other types of deltas that have been replaced by strand plains, sand bars, and sand flats. The combination of high wave energy and strong littoral drift along the east coast of the Malay Peninsula result in changing the orientation of the sand bodies in the Pahang Delta.

No modern wind-dominated delta is comparable to the Pahang Delta system. However, some modern deltas show many similarities in general morphology and sand distribution. We have developed a comprehensive sedimentological model of fluvio-marine sand-body variability in tropical wind-dominated deltas.

The results of our studies will enlarge the applicability of geometrical studies to subsurface exploration of hydrocarbons.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90982©1994 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 21-24, 1994