Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

General Geology and Granite Geochemistry of the Kenaboi and

Adjacent Area, Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Ghani A.A.1, Sofian-Azirun, M.2, Ramli, R.2, Hashim, R.2, Nur Islam1, and Zainuddin,
Z.A.1
1
Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
[email protected]
2
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya.

ABSTRACT The Kenaboi and surrounding area consist of two main rock types; they are the
metamorphic of Palaeozoic age and the Triassic igneous rock (including Sempah porphyry). The older
(early Paleozoic) metamorphic rocks straddle the Triassic Main Range granite as large roof pendants. The
metamorphic rock from the study area (Jelebu schist) consists of four rock types; they are schist, phyllite
(greenschist facies), amphibolite schist and serpentinite. The Triassic igneous rock consists mainly of
granitic composition and can be divided into four different plutons consisting of Sempah porphyry,
Beroga granite, Semenyih granite and Telemong granite.

ABSTRAK Kawasan Kenaboi dan sekitarnya terdiri daripada 2 jenis batuan utama ialatu batuan
metamorfik yang berusia Paleozoik dan batuan igneus yang berumur Trias (termasuk batuan porphiri
Sempah). Batuan metamorfik yang lebih tua membentuk pending bumbung di dalam batuan Granite
Banjaran Utama yang berumur Trias. Batuan metamorfik ini terdiri daripada empat jenis yang utama iaitu
schist, filit (fasis syis hijau), syis amfibolite dan serpentinit. Batuan igneus Trias terdiri daripada batuan
yang berkomposisi granitic dan dibahagikan kepada 4 pluton iaitu porphyry Sempah, granit Beroga,
granit Semenyih dan granit Telemong.

(Main Range granite, Kenaboi, Peninsular Malaysia, Beroga granite, Semenyih granite)

INTRODUCTION The Peninsular Malaysian granites are distributed

into three parallel belts, i.e., Western, Central and
The Kenaboi area is located at the north of the Eastern belts. The Western and Eastern Belt
Negeri Sembilan state in the Jelebu district. This province of the Peninsular Malaysia is separated
area is part of the 1 inch to 1 mile series L7010 by a line known as the Bentong-Raub suture [2].
topographic sheet 95 (Kuala Kelawang). This The age of the Eastern Belt granites ranging from
project is part of the integrated study on flora, 200 to 264 Ma whereas the Western Belt granite
fauna and physical aspect of Hutan Simpan confined to an age ranging from 190 to 210 Ma.
Kenaboi, Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan. It was funded The Western Belt province of Peninsular Malaysia
by the Jabatan Perhutanan & Negeri Sembilan consists of the granites with 'S' type characteristic
State Government. The area surrounding of the [3, 4] and have more restricted composition (SiO 2
Kenaboi valley has a hundred years history of tin > 65%). The main rock type is a coarse to very
and wolfram mining centered around the placer coarse grained megacrystic biotite muscovite
deposits of the Kongkoi, Lemis, Teriang and granite. Two phase variants, however, developed
Tinggi rivers. Small quantities of gold, monazite, almost everywhere and may be volumetrically
zircon, and xenotime occur as by products of tin important [1, 5]. The Western Belt granite together
mining. with the southern Peninsular Thailand and central
Thailand granite is associated with the tin deposits
Tectonic Setting and General Geology and has contributed 55% of the historic tin
production of Southeast Asia.

343
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

The Kenaboi and surrounding area are located at traced up to 32 km in length. The former is
the central part of the Western Belt Granite of characterised by breciated granite and 15 to 45 m
Peninsular Malaysia. Rock formations within the wide quartz vein injected along the fault zone.
area ranging in age from lower Palaeozoic to Apart from the fault, the metasediments in the
Quartenary. The area is dominated by two rocks study area also have been folded into a series of
types that is Pre-Silurian Jelebu shist and Late anticlinoria and synclinoria along the NNW
Triassic granite. The granitic rock in this area is a trending axes; this is the major structural trend of
southern extension of the Kuala Lumpur and Bukit the Main Range batholiths.
Tinggi granites. The granite consists of four
different units that are Telemong granite, GRANITIC AND RELATED ROCKS
Semenyih granite, Beroga granite and Sempah
porphyry [6]. The Telemong, Semenyih and Four main types of igneous rock occur in the study
Beroga granites are part of the Main Range Granite area [6]. They are (a) Sempah porphyry, (b)
consisting of mainly S-type biotite bearing granite. Beroga Granite, (c) Semenyih granite, and (d)
The Jelebu schist consists of four rock types; they Telemong granite (Map 2).
are schist, phyllite (greenschist facies),
amphibolite schist and serpentinite. In Kenaboi Hulu Langat porphyry
area, the Jelebu Schist forms a roof pendant of The Hulu Langat porphyry in the study area is the
oblong in shape, roughly about 5 km x 9.5 km. It is continuation of the Sempah volcanic complex. The
intruded by the Sempah volcanic to the northwest Sempah volcanic complex is related, both
and the Semenyih granite to the west and south. temporally and spatially, to the Western Belt
Schist is found along the Sengai Kenaboi from granite. The complex comprises units of tuff lavas,
Kampung Esok upstream to sungai Enjin (Fig. 1). lavas and a distinctive porphyry sub volcanic unit
The metamorphic rock in this part of the study area which contains orthopyroxene phenocrysts [3, 7].
is quartz mica graphitic schist and minor
amphibolite [6]. The amphibolite schist generally In Kenaboi area, part of this porphyry unit has
occur as lenses intercalated with the quartz mica been intruded by the younger Semenyih granite.
schist, or as massive and thick lenses or as narrow The contact is characterised by aplite, pegmatite
bands 0.3 to 3 m wide running concordant to the veins and dykes up to 1 m across [6]. Apart from
schistocity. Shu [6] estimated the possible the granites contact and the quartz vein associated
stratigraphic thickness of the schist unit as 3000 m. with the fault zone, the porphyry as a whole is
devoid of any other types of granites differentiates.
Alluvium deposit is generally limited in depth and Shu [6] found that in upper reaches of the Kenaboi
spatially related to the present day drainage area the porphyry is intruded by two small granites
system. The alluvium rarely exceeds 7.5 m in body which give rise to minor cassiterite
depth and consists of well graded, fining upwards mineralization. At Bukit Cincang Sebarau, a
of stratified gravel, sand, silt, clay and peat. River narrow band of intrusive breccia was found along
sand and cobbles deposited (Fig. 2) along the river the contact between the sempah volcanic and the
are also important sources of alluvial cassiterite. quartz mica schist of Kenaboi area. In term of
petrographic characteristic, the porphyry is
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY mesocratic with the groundmass making up to 65%
of the rock volume. Phenocrysts of twinned
The main structural elements in the study area are plagioclase, biotite, hypersthene and quartz, all
the series of subparallel NW-SE trending fault averaging between 1 – 4 mm in diameter, are
system (Map 1). This fault system is part of the present in an aphanitic grey groundmass.
Bukit Tinggi fault zone. It has been traced from Accessory minerals include magnetite, apatite and
Kuala Kubu Selangor through Bukit Tinggi down zircon. Most phenocryst phases are commonly
to the Kenaboi valley. In Kenaboi area, the sheared fragmented with resorbtion features. Quartz occurs
granite resulted from the fault can be found along as phenocrysts and as an essential constituent of
the Kuala Kelawang – Hulu Langat road cut south the groundmass. Two kinds of quartz phenocrysts
of the Bukit Gelanggang. This area has been cut by are identified: large (~ 4 mm) grains and smaller
the Kongkoi fault along the Kongkoi valley which (0.3 – 0.5 mm) rounded grains. Quartz sometimes
forms an 8 km linear surface expression of occurs in quartz–plagioclase aggregates. Many of
brecciated granite and contorted schist. The the phenocrysts are deeply and intricately
Kenaboi valley has been cut by NW-SE Bukit embayed.
Tinggi fault and N-S Karak fault which can be

344
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

Figure 1. Metasediment consisting of interbedded Figure 2. Gravels and pebbles deposited by the
sequence of quartzite and phyllite found as boulder Kenaboi river.
at Kampung Esok, Kenaboi.

Map 1. Fault system in the Kenaboi and surrounding area.

345
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

Map 2. General geology of Kenaboi and surrounding area. Map partly modified after Ghani et al.
(2008) and Shu (1989).

346
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

Plagioclase occurs as individual euhedral to

subhedral laths, as glomeroporphyritic aggregates, Semenyih granite
and very commonly as angular fragments. The Semenyih Granite (Map 2) forms the Kongkoi
Anorthite contents in cores and rims of zoned hill with the highest point at Bukit Kongkoi (950
plagioclase range from An38 – An50. It is inferred m). The outcrop of this granite was found at the
that plagioclase was an early liquidus phase having Kongkoi – Chennah road cut. Shu [6] showed that
a reaction relationship with evolving melts. This is the eastern part of the Semenyih granite in the
based on the fact that plagioclase exists both as Kongkoi area is faulted. The sharply angular
discrete phenocrysts, and also as glomero- outlines of this pluton are due mainly to the faulted
porphyritic aggregates. Biotite occurs as euhedral contact. The Semenyih granite is coarse to medium
to subhedral phenocrysts up to 3 mm in diameter. grained equigranular to megacrystic (Fig. 5) biotite
It is relatively rare as a groundmass constituent granite. The granite commonly intruded by
where it occurs as small shreds which have microgranite, coarse grained leucogranite, aplite
probably been dislodged from phenocrysts. and pegmatites.
Although euhedral biotite may be fairly common,
the bulk of the biotite is present as ragged elongate The phenocrysts usually make up less than 10% of
shreds. The presence of subhedral hypersthene in the rock and consist of euhedral K-feldspars
the rock is characterized by high relief, low ranging in size from 2.5 to 3.8 cm. Mineralogy of
birefringence in sections of normal thickness and the granite is quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase,
parallel extinction. Liew [3] presented the range as biotite, apatite and zircon. Main K-feldspar type is
En60Fs40 for the hypersthene found in the Sempah orthoclase with prominent perthite texture. Biotite
area. Microperthite phenocrysts are often only about 8% of the total mode.
ornamented by internal zones and blebs of
groundmass materials, indicative that the grains Telemong granite
had continued to grow in optical continuity beyond The Telemong granite forms an elongated body 24
its original outline [3]. km long and 11 km wide, trending southeast. It is
the main granite body in the northeastern part of
Beroga granite the Hutan simpan Kenaboi. The granite forms the
The Beroga granite forms an irregular body along most mountainous terrain of the study area, the
the southern part of the study area from Titi highest peak is Gunung Besar Hantu (1460 m). It
Kerawang to Kuala Kelawang (Map 2). It is one of consists of coarse grained porphyritic biotite
the most basic granite in the Western Belt. The granite with medium to fine grained core.
granite is easy to map as it altered to reddish soil
and can easily differentiate from other rock type in GEOCHEMISTRY
the study area.
Eleven granitic samples from the study area have
The main granite type is biotite rich granite to been analysed for major and trace element
granodiorite with distinct euhedral to subhedral K- contents. They are 6 samples from Beroga granite
feldspar megacryst. It also characterised by and 5 samples from Semenyih granite. Six major
abundant xenoliths and other microgranular elements of the Hulu Langat Porphyry (equivalent
enclaves (Fig. 3). The rock is made up of K- to the Sempah volcanic) are taken from [6].
feldspar, biotite, quartz, plagioclase, biotite, Twelve major and trace element analyses of the
amphibole (cummingtonite?), apatite and zircon. Sempah volcanic in previous studies were used for
Biotite forms interconnecting clots ranging from 2 comparison [1, 3].
mm to 1 cm across. The mineral can be up to 15%
in a single hand specimen whereas for the other The samples weighing about 0.5 to 1 kg were
Western Belt granites the average biotite content firstly trimmed in order to remove any
ranges from 5 to 10%. The biotite may have altered/weathered material. The clean and freshest
resulted from dispersion of the mafic and samples were split into 1 cm cubes using a
metasediment enclaves in the magma. The main hydraulic jaw-splitter and an automatic jaw-
granite type is megacrystic coarse (Fig. 4) to
medium grained biotite granodiorite.

347
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

Figure 3. Field occurrence of the Beroga granite Figure 4. Photograph showing the Beroga
with 2 types of mafic enclave. Note the abundance porphyritic types with prominent euhedral to
of biotite clot compared to the Semeyih granite subhedral K-feldspar phenocrysts. Photograph
(Fig 5). Photograph taken from Ghani et al. (2008). taken from Ghani et al. (2008).

Figure 5. Semenyih granite from Kampung Lesung, Kenaboi. The granite is characterised by porphyritic
coarse grained texture and slightly pinkish colour. Photograph taken from Ghani et al. (2008).

crusher, washed to remove dust, and dried (at room grams (3.5 g) of the sample powder was weighed
temperature) overnight. The chips were then into a plastic mixing jar with 7.0 g of spec pure
reduced to powder by grinding in a "Tema" dilithium tetraborate (Li2B4O7), assisted by an
laboratory disc mill using a tungsten-carbide enclosed plastic ball, mixed for ten minutes. The
barrel. Substances W, Co and Ta are known mixed powders were emptied into graphite
contaminants that could be introduced at this stage. crucibles with internal measurements of 34.9 mm
Milling time was 30 seconds (150 micron) and diameter by 31.8 mm deep. Twenty four filled
another 15 seconds to reduce the size to 53 crucibles were placed on a silica tray and loaded
microns. into a muffle furnace only large enough to contain
the tray. Fusion takes 5 minutes from the time the
The major and trace element concentrations were preheated furnace returns to its normal 1000ºC
determined by using ThermoARL Advant'XP+ after loading. The silica plate and graphite
XRF at GeoAnalytical Lab, Geology Department, crucibles were then removed from the oven and
Washington State University. Three and a half allowed to cool. Each bead is reground in the

348
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

swing mill for 35 seconds, the glass powder then precipitating phase. The Rb/Sr ratio for the
replaced in the graphite crucibles and refused for 5 Semenyih granite (Rb/Sr: 2.8 to 7) is higher
minutes. The beads were measures for 28 major compared to Rb/Sr ratio of both Beroga granite
and trace elements (Si, Al, Ti, Fe, Mn, Ca, Mg, K, samples (Rb/Sr: 1.6 to 1.9) and Langat Porphyry
Na, P, Sc, V, Ni, Cr, Ba, Sr, Zr, Y, Rb, Nb, Ga, (Rb/Sr: 0.6 to 2.8). The low value of the Beroga
Cu, Zn, Pb, La, Ce, Th, Nd) and Langat rocks suggests that the magma is less
evolved compared to the Semenyih magma.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The Beroga granite
The Beroga granite has the lowest SiO2 (67.22 – Among the three studied granite, the Beroga
68.02%) contents compared to the Semenyih granite is the most different compare to other
granite and Hulu Langat Porphyry. This shows that Western Belt granite especially their petrographic
the Beroga granite lies on the mafic end of the characteristic. The granite is characterised by
Western Belt granite. The Semenyih granite, on biotite contents up to 25% and forming inter-
the other hand, contains 70.36 to 73.48% SiO2. connecting clots with the size ranging up to 2 cm
Selected Harker diagram (Fig. 6) shows clear across. It is also characterised by abundant
trends of decreasing TiO2, Al2O3, Fe(tot), Na2O, xenoliths and other enclaves. Common enclave
MgO, CaO and P2O5 with increasing SiO2. K2O types are pelitic and various modifications of fine
and MnO increase with increasing SiO2. All units to medium grained biotite rich enclaves. It is
interpreted that the biotite clots resulted from
have high alkali contents, with the following
dispersion of the enclaves in the Beroga magma.
Na2O+ K2O ranges: Beroga granite (7.0-7.9%),
Field observations showed that xenolith
Semenyih granite (7.60-9.38%) and Hulu Langat assimilation is widespread process in the Beroga
Porphyry (7.70 - 9.29%). On a K2O vs. SiO2 plot magma and that different stages of assimilation
all sample fall in the high-K calc alkali field. On a can be observed.
Na2O vs. K2O diagram (Fig. 7), all samples plot in
the S-type field suggesting that all the three The Hulu Langat porphyry
magmas originated from a sedimentary source. The Hulu Langat porphyry exposed at the
The most probable candidates of the source rock is northestern part of the study area is the
pelitic and greywacke. This findings contrast to the continuation of the Sempah volvanic complex [10,
Eastern Belt granite which most of them can be 11]. It is closely related both temporally and
classified as I-type. spatially to the Western Belt granite [3]. The
Sempah complex generally comprises unit of tuff
The Beroga granite also has high Fe total, CaO, lavas, lavas and a distinctive porphyritic
MgO, TiO2, P2O5, Ba, Sr, Sc, Ni, Nd, V and Zn subvolcanic unit which contain orthopyroxene
low Rb contents and Rb/Sr ratios compared to the phenocrysts [3, 12]. Ghani & Singh [10] showed
Semenyih granite. This is evident from that the multi elements profile of the Sempah
petrographic study as the Beroga granite contains Complex rocks is comparable and the Western
up to 25% biotite and this suggests that it is more Belt granites. The similar profile may suggest the
mafic compared to the Semenyih granite. The common origin of both Western Granite and
faulted Semenyih granite has low MgO, Ni, Y and Sempah volcanic magmas. They are notably
Rb compared to the Semenyih granite proper. On depleted in Ba, Sr, P and Ti which is probably
the Sr vs. Ba diagram, both Beroga and Semenyih related to fractionation of feldspars, apatite, sphene
granites show a good positive correlation. This and Fe-titanium minerals. This is supported by the
trend suggests that K-feldspar, biotite and ACNK value of the Sempah complex ranging from
plagioclase were being removed in differentiation 0.95 to 1.36 similar to the Western belt granite.
sequence. The trend is in contrast to the Hulu
Langat porphyry, where all the samples are
scattered. Participation of plagioclase in the
Semenyih magma is also evidence from Rb/Sr vs.
SiO2 (Fig. 8). The plot shows semi J-shaped trend
which suggests the importance of fractional
crystallisation with plagioclase as a major

349
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

0.8

T iO2 0.6

0.4

0.2
65 67.5 70 72.5 75
SiO2

3.25

2.75
Na2 O
2.5

2.25

2
66 68 70 72 74

SiO2

Figure 6. TiO2 and Na2O vs. SiO2 plots for the

granitic rock from the study area.

Data Kenaboi
6

Figure 8. Sr vs. Ba and Rb/Sr vs. SiO2 for the

4 granitic rock from Kenaboi area.
I Type
Na2 O

3
REFERENCES
2
1. Cobbing E.J., Pitfield P. E. J., Darbyshire D.
P. F. and Mallick D. I. J. (1992). The granites
1 S Type
of the South-East Asian tin belt. Overseas
0
Memoir 10, British Geological Survey.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2. Hutchison C. S. (1975). Ophiolite in
K2O Southeast Asia. Geological Society of
America Bulletin. 86: 797 – 806.
3 Liew T.C. (1983). Petrogenesis of the
Figure 7. Na2O vs. K2O plot for the granitic rock
Peninsular Malaysia granitoid batholith.
from the study area. Symbols as in Figure 8.
Unpublished Ph.D thesis, Australia National
University.
4 Hutchison C. S. (1996). Geological evolution
of South East Asia. Geological Society
Malaysia, 368 pp.
5. Pitfield P. E. J., Teoh L. H. and Cobbing E. J.
(1990). Textural variation and tin
mineralization in granites from the Main
Range province of the Southeast Asia tin belt.
Geological Journal. 25: 419 - 430.

350
Malaysian Journal of Science 28 (Special Issue): 343 - 351 (2009)

6. Shy,Y.K. (1989). Geology and Mineral 10. Ghani A. A. and Singh N. (2005).
resources of the Kuala Kelawang area, Petrochemistry and geochemistry of Sempah
Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan. Geol. Surv. volcanic complex: Peninsular Malaysia.
Malaysia District memoir 20, 208 pp. Geol. Soc. Malaysia Bull. 51: 103 – 121.
7. Chakraborty K. R. (1995). Genting Sempah 11. Singh N. & Ghani A. A. (2000). Sempah
volcanic complex: genetic implication for the Volcanic Complex, Pahang. In Teh G.H.,
main Range granite (Abstract), Warta Pareira, J.J and Ng, T.F. (Eds), Proc. Ann.
Geologi. 21(3): 216-217. Geol. Conf., 67 – 72.
8. Haile N. S. (1970). Rhyolitic and granitic 12. Chakrabooty K.R. (1995). Genting Sempah
rocks around Genting Sempah, Selangor and Volcanics complex: Genetic implication for
Pahang, Malaysia, with definition of a the Main Range granite (Abstract). Warta
proposed new formation, the Sempah Geologi. 21(3): 240 – 242.
Conglomerate. Abstr. Geol. Soc. Malaysia 13. Ghani, A.A., Azirun, S., Ramli,R., Hashim,R.,
Discussion Meeting, Ipoh , Dec 1970. Nur Islami and Zainuddin Z,A. (2008).
9. Maury R.C. and Didier J. (1991). Xenoliths Geochemical contrast between Beroga (Kuala
and role of assimilation. Enclaves and granite Kelawang pluton) and Semenyih (Kuala
petrology. In: Didier, J. and Barbarin, B. Lumpur pluton) granites in Kuala Kelawang
(Eds.), Development in Petrology. 13: 529- area Negeri Sembilan. Geol. Soc. Malaysia.
542. Bull. 54, 71-74

351