This map shows the Quaternary geology of Penang Island, including Pleistocene deposits (age 1.6 million to 10,000 years ago), and Holocene deposits (10,000 years ago to the present). Geologists believe that the Pleistocene deposits in Penang were laid down on dry land by erosion of granite and that the Holocene deposits where laid down in a wet environment. About 5,000 years ago, sea level was 2 to 3 meters higher than now. The mouths of the rivers in the study area were estuaries. Pollen analysis has shown that there were marshes and a mangrove forest along the coast (Kamaludin, 1989). There were beach ridges 2 to 3 meters high and behind the ridges there were lagoons formed by impounding of water behind the beach ridges at high tide and during seasons of flooding. The low-lying soils were rich in organic matter and thus suitable for rice cultivation using the technology the Malays brought with them when they entered the region several centuries ago. In 1969, the Malays cultivated rice up to about 2 meters above sea level. At about 3 meters they built villages and cleared paths that later became roads. Above 3 meters, they maintained individually-owned fruit trees on common land. (Text continued below.)

During the colonial period, this landscape was reinterpreted so that land above 3 meters was alienated to plantations, mines and towns, first occupied by colonials, later by Chinese and Indians who had entered the country as indentured laborers. Urban development represents further reinterpretation of the landscape, in particular the Holocene areas where the land is relatively level. The soil is mostly sand and clay with bedrock not far below the surface. Such an environment is suitable for construction of buildings and urban infrastructure. Until the latter part of the last century, urban development was confined to level ground upwards from three meters. Now large-scale earthmoving equipment allows reshaping of the landscape from below 3 meters to 60 meters and higher. Developers level hilly land and use the earth and rocks removed to fill in land below 3 meters. (Land reclaimed from marshes and the sea is not shown in the map below.) Fifty years ago, the founders of independent Malaysia were concerned to protect traditional Malay culture from later arrivals belonging to other ethnic groups. The constitution contains provisions for reserving large tracts of paddy-rice land to ethnic Malays. Recently, Malay leaders have proposed amending the constitution to lift some or all restrictions on Malay-reserve land. These observations suggest that a landscape is interpreted in a specific way until reinterpreted under the influence of external forces, such as population growth and economic opportunity. The study area reflects the ability of Malaysian political institutions and administrative processes to mediate cultural change driven by global economic change.

Return to Study Area The URL of this site is [http://www.geoscience-environment.com]