Philippi

Properties2
tagsperson, geologist, dutch, colonial
aliasesPHILIPPI, Philippi (geologist), Philippi (1918)

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Philippi was a Dutch geologist or mining engineer whose 1918 report on the coal occurrences of the coastal region south of Atjeh — cited in the standard form “PHILIPPI, 1918” — is the principal source for Zwierzycki’s 1922 inventory of the coal localities of the coastal region of Sumatra (numbers 31–33 of the inventory), and is also cited by Van Bemmelen for the Bukit Sunur field of Benkulen (No. 33), the iron-ore deposits of Radjabasa in the Lampong Districts (1923 and 1925), the iron-ore deposits of Sukadana (1923), and the Tjot Plaj iron-ore occurrence in Atjeh (“According to PHILIPPI these deposits are of thermal origin”). Philippi is, in short, one of the more widely-cited colonial field-geologists for the mineralogy of Sumatra in the 1910s and 1920s.

The 1918 coastal-region coal report

Philippi’s 1918 coal report, as cited by Zwierzycki and reproduced by Van Bemmelen, supplies the data for the coastal-region coal occurrences that lie immediately south of Atjeh, in the residency of the Westkust van Sumatra. The localities recorded include:

  • Ajer Padang (No. 31a): Several outcrops; only the moisture content of some samples was determined, amounting to ±18 %.
  • Ajer Lais (No. 31b): A thin coal seam with moisture 15.5 %.
  • Ajer Besi, Ajer Nepal (No. 31c): Several outcrops of coal shale; moisture 15–20 %.
  • Ajer Palik (No. 31d): A lignite seam of 0.90 m thickness, with a thin layer of white clay; moisture 12.5 %.
  • Near Talang Tengah (No. 31e): Two outcrops, moisture 15 %.
  • S. Neur Kuto Titik (No. 31f): One locality with 0.50 m thickness; moisture 16 %.
  • Bukit Kandis (No. 31g): On the left river bank a seam of 2.75 m thickness with intermediate clay layers; moisture 15 %.
  • Ajer Langkap (No. 31h): 6 to 7.5 m thickness; moisture 12–17 %.
  • Bukit Kabu (No. 31i): 3 km West of Bukit Kabu, only very thin seams; moisture 19 %.

These coastal-region localities, though south of Atjeh proper, are geologically continuous with the East-Atjeh coal series, and Philippi’s report accordingly supplies the southern extension of the Atjeh coal record. His moisture-content figures (12–20 %) are the standard colonial benchmarks for the Neogene coals of the northern-Sumatran coastal region.

The Bukit Sunur field of Benkulen

Philippi’s 1918 report is also the source for the description of the Bukit Sunur coal field in Benkulen (No. 33 of Zwierzycki’s list). Van Bemmelen records that “PHILIPPI distinguished 4 fields, besides which only some isolated localities are known. Generally there are 1–3 beds, sometimes more, with a thickness varying from 1 to 2 m, and a moisture content of 8 to 14 %. The beds are often steeply folded and the area appears to be strongly disturbed and faulted. Two of the fields, namely the Bukit Puding and Bukit Sunur fields, are in some places cut by young andesites. Locally the coal is ameliorated and often natural coke is found.” The Pilubang field, in the same area, is also Philippi’s discovery.

The Tjot Plaj iron-ore occurrence

For the Atjeh connection, Philippi is also cited directly for the Tjot Plaj iron-ore occurrence on the West coast of Atjeh. Van Bemmelen records that “According to PHILIPPI these deposits are of thermal origin. His conclusions, however, are based upon a few samples from one pit. The peculiar structure and the comparatively high Zn content (3–4 %) are indeed in favour of a hydrothermal origin of the metal-bearing solutions. Precipitation of the ore must have happened under marshy conditions.” The Tjot Plaj iron-ore deposits are bog-iron ores at the surface, with reddish-yellow sand below 40 cm containing lumps of ore, and Philippi’s thermal-origin hypothesis is the only published geological interpretation of them.

The Radjabasa and Sukadana iron-ore reports

Philippi’s later reports — “PHILIPPI, 1923” and “PHILIPPI, 1925, p. 393” — are the principal sources for the iron-ore deposits at Radjabasa (the southernmost point of Sumatra) and at Sukadana in the Lampong Districts. For Radjabasa, Philippi “mentioned their occurrence on a broad andesite ridge, extending from the Radjabasa in northern direction to about 11 km from the top”, distinguished 8 deposits at elevations between 30 and 225 m above sealevel with thicknesses of 0.60 to 1.00 m, and “considered these deposits thermal; also the high zinc percentage points to this conception”. For Sukadana, Philippi described the deposits as occurring “along the margins of the pleistocene basalt areas of Sukadana and Gunung Tiga”, where the ground-water dissolves iron from the weathering basalt and precipitates it as limonite in a 1–1.5 m thick zone.

Significance

Philippi is significant for the encyclopedia of Acheh history because his 1918 coal report supplies the data for the coastal-region coal localities immediately south of Atjeh — localities that are geologically continuous with the East-Atjeh coal series — and because his thermal-origin hypothesis for the Tjot Plaj bog-iron ores is the only published geological interpretation of those deposits. He is also, more broadly, one of the principal colonial field-geologists for the mineralogy of Sumatra in the 1910s and 1920s, and his name accordingly recurs in the source-line of mineral-locality entries across the length of the island.

See Also

Source

The Geology of Indonesia, by R. W. van Bemmelen, Vol. II: Economic Geology (The Hague: Government Printing Office; Martinus Nijhoff, 1949), pp. 50–55 (coal localities), p. 209 (Tjot Plaj), p. 212 (Sukadana and Radjabasa). Philippi’s own reports cited as “PHILIPPI, 1918”, “PHILIPPI, 1923”, and “PHILIPPI, 1925, p. 393”.

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