Emerging areas of geology research in Southeast Asia

The lead paper by Khoong et al. (2024) is a seminal effort to analyze advances in geology and delineate emerging areas in Southeast Asia between 2018 and 2022, using a digital approach. It appears that Indonesia and Malaysia are the most significant contributors of geology knowledge as indexed by the Scopus database during this period, and emerging geology research areas relate to the natural gas, environment, and tourism sectors as well as machine learning and sustainable development. The second paper by Sonie et al. (2024) applies mineralogical and geochemical techniques to make a significant contribution to archaeological records on traditional Malay pottery-making. Historical heritage plays a huge role in developing tourism, and the added insight to these artifacts is important for the sector; an example of an emerging area of geology research. The next two papers by Salimun & Mohamad (2024) and Salman et al. (2024) can be clustered under the conventional topic of engineering geology. This is followed by another two papers by Ishak et al. (2014) and Fong et al. (2024) that relate to depositional environments. Kessler et al. (2024) introduce the subject of hydrocarbon biodegradation in the Malay Basin. The final paper from Mina & Abdula (2024) showcases techniques used in Iraq to characterize source rocks and establish their linkages.