IGNEMITE! 💥

This is a field trip under the course Introduction to Petroleum Geoscience (ITPG) in our first year second semester studies. It is the first and last field trip throughout our undergraduate studies, so we decided to make it a memorable one!

We've been assigned into groups before the field trip to ease our group work during the trip. So, here it comes to our group, Ignemite! It consists of:

Human ITPG dictionary, Piramasudar A/L Inthirachitu,

Human dictionary! 😜

Fittest member in Ignemite, Najwan Naim,

Here you go with the abang sado! 💪

The only XX chromosome in the group (if you know what I meant), Tang Yan Yan,

Here you go with YY with XX chromosome! 👩

The only internationals, Ahmad Njjar,

With them rocks! 🌊

The motivator of the group, Emmanuel Abbasy,

Are you ready to see the coolest experience from us in Langkawi? Stay tune for the upcoming posts! ✌💓

Day 1: Sandy Beach Resort, Pantai Chenang, Langkawi

17 November 2016, 

We departed around 9 in the morning from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) and reached around 6.30 in the evening at Sandy Beach Resort, Pantai Chenang, Langkawai. Here are some beautiful view of the resort, 

Entrance of resort

Place to chill by the beach side

View of Pantai Chenang

We were given a set of field guide for our reference throughout the trip. It has the tentative, aims of field trip, safety requirements, and description of a few locations that we are going to visit. 

After a short briefing from our lecturer, Mr. Luqman, we went back to our room according to the roommate that have already been assigned. Some are 2 people per room while some are 4. 

So we settled down in our respective room and went to bed early as the journey was tiring and most of us were exhausted. 

[THE END OF DAY 1]

Day 2: Pulau Langgun

18 November 2016,

Here it comes to the main aim of the trip, outcrops! We were asked to gather and have breakfast at the resort's restaurant and departed around 9 in the morning to our first ever location of the trip, Pulau Langgun! 

For your information, Langkawi Island consists of a group of 104 islands in the Andaman Sea which is approximately 30km off the coast of northwestern of Peninsular Malaysia. It is the most interesting and strategic location for geology studies since it consists of all three major types of rocks which are igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. As for the first location, Pulau Langgun, it is made up from Singa formation for which those that overlying the folded strata are red mudstone and interbedded quartize of the Langgun Red Beds. 

Here are some of the pictures taken on the island: 

One of the rock that can be found in Pulau Langgun is shale which is a source rock. It is a rock that is hard, contains organic material such as oil and gas, has fine grain, dark in color and structureless. It has two types of shale in which some are contain of quartz while some are calcite. Besides, fossils can also be found in shale.

Our lecturer was explaining how the rocks are formed and its properties 

The picture shows a fault in the rock 

Fault often happens because of tectonic effect. Convergence and divergence can cause the stone to be uplifted to onshore from offshore and this is how most of the rocks can be found onshore nowadays. 

Next, sedimentary rock is formed when pressure and high temperature is inserted. There are two types of sedimentary rocks which are clastic and non-clastic. Some examples for clastic rock are sandstone, conglomerate, siltstone and shale while non-clastic are limestone and coal. Sometimes, shale and limestone can be alike and to differentiate and determine these two rocks, acid is used. Bubbles will form if it is a limestone because of the presence of calcium carbonate and it is vice versa for shale. 

Secondary sedimentary happens only at the surface of the rock. Tafoni structure can also be found in Pulau Langgun which is a honeycomb-like structure that formed by salt dessication, particularly on exposed thick shale and fine-grained sandstone beds. 

[MORE TO COME, TO BE CONTINUED...]

Day 2: Kisap

18 November 2016,

Second stop of the day, Kisap. It is a limestone quarry that is currently being abandoned. Slickensides and its intense fracturing occurs within this rock unit indicates the presence of faults. The main rock that can be found here is limestone. It is a brittle rock. It is also a reservoir rock for petroleum engineer due to limestone's good porosity and high content of organic material. 

Fault at Kisap

The fault that present in Kisap is commonly know as Kisap Thrust because it is a thrust fault.

[MORE TO COME, TO BE CONTINUED...]

Day 2: Durian Perangin

18 November 2016,

Durian Perangin is a place famous with its beautiful view and hence attracted a lot of tourists and some families to come here for a family day during weekends. 

As for the geologists, it is also one of the interesting location to look for metamorphic and igneous rocks. There are two types of metamorphic rock which is foliated metamorphic rock and non-foliated metamorphic rock. The one that can be found here is a non-foliated one with name hornfel. The rocks undergo metamorphism under high pressure and temperature, therefore it is hard to break. 

A few characteristics of metamorphic rock:

• Fine-grained
• Dark in color 
• Massive (non-foliated)
• 'Chipping sound' when hitted which indicates its hardness
• Bad porosity and permeability 

Drilling usually stops when hornfel is met. Hornfel is said to be the basement of a petroleum system where no oil and gas can be found. 

[MORE TO COME, TO BE CONTINUED...]

Day 2: Penarak

18 November 2016, 

Here comes the last stop for day 2, Penarak. At this location, we were learning more details about dip and strike. By using this technique, it is easy for geologists to determine the source of a certain rock such as direction of its parent rock. 

Water is used when using dip and strike technique to indicate the direction of water flow. Besides, left-hand rule is used, thumb shows the dip, while index finger shows the strike. 

[THE END OF DAY 2]

Day 3: Tanjung Mali & Pantai Pasir Tengkorak

19 November 2016, 

Tanjung Mali

The first location for day 3 is Tanjung Mali which is a place near to the famous Under Water World. 

Another location of outcrops were Pantai Pasir Tengkorak. Medium-grained sandstone and coarse-grained sandstone and shale are found here. Besides, there are a lot of mud cracks can be seen here as well due to tectonic effects. 

Not only that, tafoni structure, which is a honeycomb-like structure is found here as well. The main function of this structure is to indicate the presence of salt. 

A flame structure is also an obvious sedimentary structure. This structure forms when a denser rock is placed on top of a less dense rock, and the force pushes the denser one towards the less dense one. Hence, a flame-like structure is formed in between the denser and less dense rock. 

Flame structure

Ripple marks is used to determine the direction of flow of water.

Ripple marks

[THE END OF DAY 3]