BATU CAVES

NASUHA
SYAFIQAH
NOR SHAHIRAH
KHAIRULANWAR
KHALIDAH
AISYAH
INTRODUCTION
LOCATION
LOCATION

Coordinate :

N 031414.64
E 101412.06
LOCATION

Located at
Gombak district,
13 kilometers
north of Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
ACCESSIBILITY
 ACCESSIBILITY

Located
nearby the
highway and
flyover.
 ACCESSIBILITY

Surrounded
by industrial
and housing
area.
 ACCESSIBILITY

Easily access
by car, train
and bus.
HISTORY
HISTORY

This is the worlds

tallest statue of
Murugan, a Hindu
deity.
HISTORY

It is located outside
Batu Caves.
HISTORY

Cost of building :

Approximately 24
million rupees
HISTORY

Made of :
1550 cubic meters of
concrete
250 tonnes of steel bars
300 liters of gold paint
(brought in from
neighbouring Thailand)
HISTORY

Batu Caves is formed

by limestone which
said to be around 400
million years ago.
 HISTORY
It takes its name
from the Sungai
Batu (Batu River),
which flows past
the hill. Batu
Caves is also the
name of the
nearby village.
 HISTORY
The entrance of
the main cave was
made and dedicate
to a temple of
Lord Murugan
within the caves.
HISTORY

Rising almost 100 m

above the ground,
Batu Caves temple
complex consists of
main caves and a few
smaller ones.
THE STAIRS

Wooden steps up to the Temple

Cave were built in 1920 and
have since been replaced by 272
concrete steps. Good luck!
TEMPLE CAVE

The place where several Hindu

shrines were located beneath its
high vaulted ceiling.
MUSEUM CAVE & SMALL
DARK CAVE

Small Dark Cave also known as

the art gallery cave.
MUSEUM CAVE & SMALL
DARK CAVE

The museum and art gallery

were full of Hindu statues and
paintings.
MUSEUM CAVE & SMALL
DARK CAVE

In 2008, both caves were

renovated and opened as Cave
Villa.
GANESH CAVE

Consists of two section which

is Lower Ganesh and Upper
Ganesh.
LOWER GANESH CAVE

The place where Ramayana Art

Gallery was located.
LOWER GANESH CAVE

The place where Ramayana Art

Gallery was located.
DARK CAVE

It is 2.8km long
DARK CAVE

1980 announced that Dark

Cave is in danger of collapsing
(as a result of continuous
blasting) and was closed to the
visitors.

1989 Dark Cave was declared

unsafe when the quarrying
stopped, and therefore stopped
running.

July, 1991 reopened as a show

cave.
TECTONIC SETTING
OF PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA
TECTONIC SETTING OF
PENINSULAR MALAYSIA
-PENINSULAR MALAYSIA IS LOCATED IN THE
SOUTHERN PART OF THE STABLE
MICROCONTINENT/BLOCK CALLED SUNDALAND
-DIPPING SUBDUCTION OF INDO-AUSTRALIAN
PLATE IN THE W AND THE S
-DIPPING PHILIPPINE PLATE IN THE E
FIGURE 1: THE TECTONIC SETTING OF PENINSULAR
MALAYSIA SHOWING THE SUNDALAND BLOCK
4 FAULT ZONE IN
PENINSULAR MALAYSIA
Bukit Tinggi
Kuala Lumpur
Lepar (North of Pahang)
Seremban (Negeri Sembilan)

By UM Geology Department Association; Professor Mustaffa

Kamal Shuib
BUKIT TINGGI FAULT ZONE
Initiated early as Late Triassic to Jurassic
Sinistral Bukit Tinggi Fault Zone is situated just North of Kuala
Lumpur
Further northwards along the boundary between granite and
country rock up to the Bujang Melaka stock in Perak.
The fault characterized by mylonite zone, fault breccia and large
quartz vein
Microscopic and field study on the mylonite shows that the early
ductile microstructures were superimposed by later brittle-ductile
and brittle structure.
Within the mylonite, a distinct foliation and streching lineation
defined by symmetric and assymetric lenses of feldspar and
elongated quartz are commonly found
The result in the mylonite along the fault zone shows that it is a
strike slip fault zone with a significant dip-slip component
KUALA LUMPUR FAULT ZONE
The Kuala Lumpur Fault Zone is well established, the surface
expression of the fault zone is indistinct, broad and diffuse.
Minimum width of 10 km and a total displacement of more than 20
km.
The fault zone is made up of five main strands, each defined by
steep mesoscopic brittle fault and shear zones.
FIGURE 2 SHOWS THE BUKIT TINGGI AND KUALA LUMPUR
FAULT ZONE
GEOMORPHOLOGY
In Peninsular
Malaysia karst
land found in.
In the northern half of west part comprises
Perlis, Kedah, Perak and Selangor

In in the eastern covers Pahang, Kelantan

and Terengganu.

(Hutchison, 1968, Muhammad, 2003, Zukifli,

2003, and Gillieson, 2005)
 Developmen Carbon dioxide from
t of Karsts converted in the soil in an
the atmosphere is fixed or

aqueous state and combined with

rainnwater to form carbonic acid,
Karst topography in limestone is which readily dissolves carbonate
formed by a chemical dissolution rocks.
process when Karstic features develop from a
groundwater circulates self-accelerating process of water
through the limestone. flow along well-defined pathways
such as bedding planes, joints and
fault.
 KUALA
LUMPUR
LIMESTONE
FORMATION
Kuala Lumpur Limestone is well Lithology : Finely crystalline, grey
known for its highly erratic karstic
features.
Its name derived from the name of
Kuala Lumpur, where the majority
area it is scattered.
It is composed of carbonate rocks
that have recrystallized to marble.
(Gobbett&Hutchison (1973).
Age : Middle to Upper Silurian
Boundaries : Overlies the
Hawthornden schist without any
sharp break. Probably
unconformable upper contact with
Kenny Hill formation. 8.
Correlation : Upper part of Setul
formation and lower part of Kinta
limestone
Thickness : 1820 m
to cream, thickly bedded, banded
marble, saccharoidal dolomite and
pure calcitic limestone with minor
interbeds of schist and phyllite.
KARST IN KUALA LUMPUR
The highly irregular topography of limestone rock head in the Kuala
Lumpur region was first discovered in opencast tin mines, around
150 years ago.
Deep borehole records from construction sites in the city confirm its
wide spread occurrence.
(Tan 1986a, 1986b, 1987).
Paton (1964) believed that the presence of mature karstic features in
this area is the result of climate. Kuala Lumpur receives
approximately 2400mm of rain per year at a temperature of around
26.50 C.
This imparts much CO2 to the ground water of these humid areas.
The construction of high rise buildings on a flat alluvial plain that
conceals the highly irregular topography of limestone bedrock has
always been a challenge for engineers in Kuala Lumpur
(Ibrahim & Fang 1985, Tan & Komoo 1990)
GEOMORPHOLOGY OF
BATU CAVES HILL
STRUCTURE
SPELEOTHEM
Structure formed
in a cave by the
deposition of
minerals from
water
STALACTITE
Limestone stalactites are pointed from the cave ceiling,
from which they a grow.
STALAGMITES
A type of rock that rises from the floor of a cave
due to the accumulation of material deposited on
the floor from ceiling drippings.
COLUMN
Result when stalactites and stalagmites meet or
when stalactites reach the floor of cave
Known as Stalagnate
FLOWSTONE
Sheet like and found on cave floors and walls.
Formed where water flows down the walls or along
the floors a cave
Lithology &
Stratigraphy
LITHOLOGY OF BATU CAVES
Sedimentary Rock : Limestone (calcium
carbonate, CaCO3 )
Metamorphic Rock : Calcite Marble (host rock), Ng
(2004) & Leksheman (2008).
Minerals : 1.calcite (major)
2.dolomite (minor)
Limestone consists of oolites as well as thin layer
of schist and phyllite.
Fossils : Corals, Brachiapod, Gastropods, Crinoid
& Plant. (in certain layer)
GEOLOGICAL MAP OF SELANGOR

Batu Caves
STRATIGRAPHY OF BATU CAVES
Member of Kuala Lumpur Limestone Formation which is derived from the
name of river that flows past the hill in Kuala Lumpur (Sg.Batu).
Most of the Kuala Lumpur Limestone Formation are overlain by alluvium
layer and majority of it are scattered.
Kuala Lumpur Limestone Formation is formed in Paleozoic Era, which from
Middle-Upper Sillurian about 400 millions years ago (Gobbett & Hutchison
(1973), .
Gobbet (1964) has divided the Kuala Lumpur Limestone Formation to 3
major rocks:
a) Calcite limestone
b) Dolomite Limestone
c) Dolomite
 The limestone is estimated to be about 1,850m thick, overlying
graphitic schist known as Hawthornden Schist.
The top of the sequence is Kenny Hill formation which occupies the
heartland of KL including areas at KLCC and Bukit Bintang.
STRATIGRAPHY COLUMN OF SELANGOR
GEOHERITAGE
CONSERVATION
ASPECTS IN
DETERMINING THE
VALUE OF A SITE:
Major topics of the site and narratives
Impact on geological interpretation
Quality of exposure
Abundance and dimension of similar structures
Diversity of structures (variety of structures in the same area)
Educational value (general public, undergraduate, graduate-
research levels)
Historical value
Geographic location and accessibility (e.g. navigation to site,
access restrictions, seasonal availability, and space available at
site).
CONSERVATION
Cultural, scientific, recreational, and aesthetic values
Batu Caves does associated with events or living
traditions such as the annual Thaipusam festival
Site suitable for geotourism
Karstic feature such as stalactite, stalagmite, etc.
under Kuala Lumpur Limestone Formation
Biodiversity with evidence of fauna fossils found dated
to early upper Pleistocene age, indicate evergreen
tropical forest paleoenvironment
Natural and geological structures that might represent
the earths history and formation
VERTEBRATE FOSSILS
LOCALITIES
Cistern Cave ( N 31415.6 and E 1014108.4), is
a small undeveloped cave at ground level near to
the toilets located about 30 m east of the foot of
the Batu Cave Temple steps. It was partially used
as a rubbish dump after guano mining. Price (1996,
2001) reported it as an ancient cave among the
group of caves in Selangor.
Mammalian fossil teeth have been found in
remnants of calcite-cemented cave-fill sediments
left behind by the guano diggers
Swamp Cave (N 3 1418.9 and E 101 4138.5) is located
about 1 km east of the Batu Cave Temple steps at the foot of
the cliff where the entrance to the cave is located.
Many fossil mammalian teeth and bone fragments have been
recovered from the calcite cemented remnants of alluvial
stream sediments found attached to the walls and floors of
this cave
CONSERVATION
ISSUES
illegal quarrying, invasive animal and plant species, fires,
urbanisation, and inappropriate infrastructure development that
leads geohazard

Undertaken measures
increased legal protection and an
effective management framework
Stop extensive logging
Campaign on education of
geoheritage