From ReportTectonicsThe tectonic history of the island has been...

From Report
Tectonics
The tectonic history of the island has been subject to debate for decades, not a single
structural explanation has yet been sufficient to explain all the complexities it has.
However, it is widely accepted that Timor was formed as result of collision between
Australian continental plate and Banda Arc (Asian microplate). The timing of these
collision has been so far interpreted as from Middle Miocene to Mid-Pliocene (AudleyCharles, 1968; Carter et al., 1976) bringing about the thrust sheets that are now can still
be seeing as Klippen in most hill tops in the island. This collision was followed by rapid
uplift in the Late Pliocene and Quaternary that has removed most of the thrust slices open
the structural windows to the pre and syn-collisional sediments. The windows provide
access to possible metals and hydrocarbons of Mesozoic sedimentary sequence. The
mafic and ultramafic thrust slices are the focus for most of the metallic minerals and
massive volcanogenic sulfide deposits (ESCAP-report, 2003). The occurrence of mineral
potential can be regarded as closely associated with these tectonic activities and their
distribution is controlled by the geological structure domain, which is east-westly
directional.