Beneath the hilly landscape and exotic beaches of northern Bangka Island lies a geological history yet to be fully uncovered. More than just a panorama, the island's granite rocks hold an ancient magmatic story closely linked to the riches of tin, a commodity that has long been the lifeblood of Bangka's economy.
From June 25 to July 9, 2025, a research team from the Geology Study Program, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI), explored every corner of the northern Bangka region. Led by Dr. Reza Syahputra, lecturer and head of the Geology Study Program at FMIPA UI, the team explored Menumbing, Pelangas, Belinyu, and Tanjung Batu to uncover the formation process of granite bodies and their relationship to tin mineralization.
“Bangka Island is one of the key nodes in the Southeast Asian tin belt. However, from a scientific perspective, many aspects of its geology remain a mystery—particularly how the granite was formed and how that process influences the concentration of metals such as tin,” said Dr. Reza when contacted by the FMIPA UI public relations team during the field activity.
This research is not just a local exploration. It is part of an international collaboration between the University of Indonesia and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), which aims to reconstruct the geological history of Bangka's granites and pave the way for more innovative and sustainable natural resource exploration strategies.
The team included students and alumni from various classes: Muhammad Ibnu Hibban (Class of 2022), Roy Lance Garancho (2019), and Mochamad Ikral Pamungkas (2021). They enthusiastically collected data from 26 granite outcrops, combining surface geological mapping methods with geophysical technology.
One of the main techniques used is Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS). This method allows researchers to "read" the direction of magma flow and the deformation patterns of rocks hidden beneath the Earth's surface, a kind of MRI for rocks. The collected samples will then be further analyzed in the laboratory to determine their mineral composition and magnetic fabric, which are key to understanding Bangka's geological history.
More than just a scientific inquiry, this research has a strategic mission: to equip Indonesia with new data and approaches to mineral exploration. In addition to supporting more targeted tin exploration, the research findings can also be used for conservation and as a basic reference for more innovative exploration of mineral resources, especially tin.
"We hope this research can serve as an initial foundation for sustainable mapping and exploration, not only in Bangka, but also in other areas with similar geological characteristics," said Dr. Reza.
Their efforts don't stop there. Further research is planned, with a focus shifting to the southern region of Bangka Island. The goal: to complete a comprehensive portrait of the geological evolution of this tin island, from the northern tip to the southern tip, a narrative of the earth still being written by time, rocks, and humans
