Langkawi
comprises a group of 99 tropical islands laying of the northwestern coast of
Peninsular Malaysia. With a geological
history dating back 550 million years, the islands contain unique rock
formations, which earn itself UNESCO’s Global Geopark status on June 1st,
2007.
Formation
Langkawi was born
in the Cambrian era as a broad sedimentary mound, as part of the Gondwanaland
supercontinent, at the bottom of a
turbulent sea just north of the equator.
Tectonic plate movements carried the mound south to the cold Antarctic
regions. The frozen glacier crushed the
limestone, sandstone and siltstone into a base of hard granite and marble. Then, over 400 million years, it was covered
by deposits of various material from sea life skeletons to glacial droppings.
During the
Permian period, the plate broke away and moved northward back to the
equator. In a series of cataclysmic
event accompanied by exploding volcanoes and hot lava, the plate crashed up
against the East Malaysia/Indochina block, which pushed the whole block all the
way to the surface to form the Malay Peninsular. The cataclysmic events also pushed the
Himalayas to the roof of the world.
Large mound of
rock and limestone then form small group of islands off the coast of the Malay
Peninsular. One mount of hot magma
eventually squirmed up some 800 meters to form the Gunung Raya. At about the same time, an ancient limestone
mountain rose from the sea to form Gunung Machinchang.
During the
Jurassic period, the land is further carved by the erosions, chemical reactions
and a series of uplifting eruptions.
Later during the
last Ice Age, sea levels were pushed up and down drastically as a result of
glacial melting and global cooling, forming caves full of fossils.
Langkawi Geopark
The Machinchang Cambrian Geoforest Park
Machinchang
Cambrian Geoforest Park hosts the oldest geological formation in Malaysia known
as the Machinchang Formation ; oldest grains of sand at Teluk Datai ; oldest
fossil on Pulau Jemuruk. ; and Tanjung Sabung where limestone succeeds
sandstone.
Other attractions
within the park include : Telaga Tujuh waterfall, beautiful beaches in Teluk Datai and Pantai
Kok.
Kilim Karst Geoforest Park
Kilim Karst
Geoforst Park features magnificent landscape of limestone pinnacles of various
shape and sizes. The northeastern region
encompassing three river basins of Kilim, Air Hangat and Kisap too host
magnificent landscape of mudflats, beaches, mangroves and caves. The name ‘Langkawi’ is said to have been
derived from the Brahminy Kite eagle, which is the dominant faunal species of
the area.
The Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park
The Dayang
Bunting Marble Geoforest Park is made of Permian marble overthrusted by older
Setul Formation limestone. One of the most unique features of the park is
the fresh water lake of Tasik Dayang Bunting, formerly a dry doline resulted
from the collapse of a very large underground limestone cave.
Other geological marvels
An alien granite dropstone
that is 1 billionyears old can be founding sandstone and mudstone at Pulau Tepor.
These dropstones once drifted by a glacier
before it was dropped in Langkawi which was still submerge underwater.
An ancient seabed
also can be found in Pulau Ular.
A cater known as Mahsuri
Ring is said to be the result of the impact of a meteor . The crater lay in the alluvium paddy field, is
visible from Gunung Raya.
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