The morpho-chronology of the blambangan peninsula karst, Java-Indonesia

This paper seeks to explain the morpho-chronology of the karst area in the Blambangan Peninsula in Java. Particular attention is given to the relationship between phases of uplift and its karst landform development. Morphological data were acquired from a SRTM image and panchromatic aerial photographs, supported by field surveys. The results show that three different morphologies are found in the peninsula, which resulted from events within the uplift history of the area. The three morphologies are a) conical karst hills with a corrosion plain (T1); b) upper terrace (T2) and c) lower terrace (T3). During the development of T1, the peninsula might have been a small carbonate island. The three different morphologies suggest that the peninsula must have experienced three morpho-chronological stages. The first phase was a result of uplift during the Late Pliocene or early Pleistocene, followed by a long, tectonically stable, period that occurred approximately 200-122kaBP (MIS 9-5e) when T2 was undergoing development. Alongside the T2 formation, T1 underwent severe karstification, resulting in conical karst morphology and a corrosion plain. The second developmental stage took place when T2 was uplifted (~122 ka BP), followed by the formation of T3. The carbonate island was at that time connected to the mainland of Java. Formation of the Blambangan Peninsula in its present form is likely to have occurred when T3 was uplifted (18-5 ka BP) along with the drop of sea level following the late glacial extreme and deposition of fluvio-volcanic material.