Age Dating Integrated Approach for Geohazard Study in Transitional and Structural Complex Environment in Moattama (Martaban) Basin, Myanmar

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4. Age Dating Integrated Approach for Geohazard Study in Transitional and Structural Complex Environment in Moattama (Martaban) Basin, Myanmar

Geophysical surveys (2D-UHR) have been conducted in the last decade in the Moattama Basin between Myanmar and Thailand, as well as geotechnical surveys (CPTs, Piston Cores, Vibrocores and Gravity Cores) to fine tune the amount of displacement occurring along the many faults pertaining to the Sagaing Fault System, dissecting the local stratigraphy. Age dating has an important role to address both sequence and timing issues, tying geological events within seismic sections to fault activity. The common ¹⁴C isotope method used for age dating shows problems in many of the samples collected in the area of study, since the inputs from the Ayeyarwady and Thanlwin Delta funnel organic matter of terrestrial origin in the basin. To partially solve the problems related to Marine Reservoir Effect and Old Wood Effect, the ¹⁴C dating has been integrated with biostratigraphic datasets coming mainly from planktonic foraminifera and pollen assemblages. Although the time-constraints of the biozones are wider than the ¹⁴C ones, they can highlight horizons with reworked material, cross-validate stratigraphic units across fault boundaries and help build a sedimentation rate history for the Pleistocene Holocene Moattama Basin. Seismostratigraphic facies so described have been correlated across the area of study, with the identification of Paleo-Ayeyarwady prograding delta units, alongwith tentative sedimentation rates for present-day deposition. The method described proved particularly useful in transitional settings, where high variability of sediments may prove a single age dating technique unreliable, presenting a case study with integrated, combined approach.

5th International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics (ISFOG2025)

1 - Site investigation strategies, geohazards and integrated studies