MALABUYOC, CEBU
Location and Accessibility
The Malabuyoc Geothermal Prospect Area (MGPA) is located in the southern part of Cebu
Island. Cebu is situated between the islands of Negros in the west, Bohol and Leyte on the
east, Siquijor on the south and Masbate on the north. Cebu City is the capital of the province
located midway on the eastern coast. It is accessible by air, land and sea. Flight from Manila
to Cebu is available daily via several commercial airlines. Numerous commercial and
passenger ships dock at Cebu Pier daily from Manila and nearby islands. Land trip is also
available via PHILTRANCO Bus Lines.
From Cebu City, the town of Malabuyoc is about 123 kms or 4-hour drive via Car-CarDalaguete-Ginatilan Provincial Highway or about 3-hour via Car-Car Barili Road going
south to Ginatilan. From Malabuyoc proper, the thermal spring is located north-northwest in
Brgy. Montaneza. It could be reached via barangay road leading to Sitio Mainit, where the
spring is situated.
Local Geology and Structures
The prospect and its surrounding environ are basically underlained by the Mio-Pliocene
marine sediments consisting of Barili Formation and Quaternary alluvium (CPR, 1976;
MGB, 1985; Malapitan & Del Rosario, 2002). Barili Formation is the most dominant rock
type in the survey area while the Alluvium consisting of detrital sediments, flood plain debris,
coral reefs and gravel deposits abounds the coastlines, riverbanks and lowland areas. Barili
Formation is subdivided into Barili marl and Barili limestone members. The Barili marl is
poorly bedded, slightly sandy and with occasional thin beds of limestone. It is widely
exposed in the interior portion of the survey area particularly along the rolling and hilly
terrain and in the coastal area from Malabuyoc to Alegria. The Barili limestone in the field is
generally dense, massive, white to buff and locally coralline. It occupies the topographic high
displaying karst, gorge and knife-edge features.
The thermal spring is within the western flank of a NNE trending plunging asymmetrical
anticline. This anticline is separated into two by the NW-SE trending strike slip fault noted
within the vicinity of Legaspi River namely: the Alegria structure in the north and the
Malabuyoc structure in the south. A diagonal fault runs across the middle part of this
anticline with the northern block forming an upthrown structure favorable for trapping
hydrocarbon (CPRS, 1976). The northern block was later offset left-laterally by another WNW trending fault called by the present study as the Montaneza River Fault (MRF). The
MRF pass through the Montaneza River and was manifested in the field by abrupt
topographic break and alignment of thermal spring along the Montaneza River (Malapitan &
Del Rosario, 2002).
Thermal Manifestation
Thermal manifestation occurs in the form of two warm spring seepages emerging at
Montañeza River in Sitio Mainit, Brgy. Montañeza. The first spring discharges from the
crevices of limestone while the second spring comes out from the river pile deposit at the
middle of Montañeza river. The first spring, enclosed in a concrete box, has a discharge
temperature of 56 0C, with neutral pH and flow rate of 2 liter/sec while the second spring
partly enclosed by boulders has indeterminate temperature and flow rate due to dilution of
river water. Both springs discharge crystal clear, lightly steaming, colorless water with faint
H2S odor. No significant hydrothermal alteration was observed at the vicinity of the springs.
Chemistry of Thermal Waters
The Malabuyoc hot springs have high magnesium and bicarbonate content but low in silica,
18 parts per million (ppm). Boron is less than 1 ppm and SO4 is 69 ppm. The water is
neutral, and is of the bicarbonate water type (HCO3 = 294 ppm). This is exhibited in the ClSO4-HCO3 diagram where the water plots on the bicarbonate region. The water plots on the
Mg corner of the Na-K-Mg diagram due to high Mg content indicating immature waters.
Geothemometry do not give consistent subsurface temperature estimates when several
geothermometers are applied. Chemistry of the thermal water indicates a shallow origin and
absence of thermal fluid mixing. The associated gas is believed to be due to decomposition of
the organic materials in the marine clastics or from petroleum gas trapped in the reef
limestone. The prospect has low potential for power generation. The hot water could be used
for eco-tourism and domestic purposes.
Result of Controlled Source Magnetotelluric (CSMT) Survey
Modeling of resistivity results depicts a faulted anticline structure. Resistivity anomalies of
the prospect were largely controlled by fault structures with the Montañeza warm spring
occurring at the western flank of the north trending Malabuyoc anticline. Malabuyoc system
was categorized as a basement aquifer beneath sedimentary basins with the heated fluid
probably originating at the center of the basin located east of the survey area. The fluid was
channeled along the middle diagonal and Montaneza river faults and emerged along the
stretch of Montaneza River as warm seepage. The best target site to drill a well for spa and
resort development is the area bounded by steep resistivity gradient coincident with MRF.
Possible hot water can be extracted from permeable karst aquifer between –100 to –300 m
depth.
Assessment for Spa Resort Development
The hot spring in Malabuyoc is ideal for spa resort development because of the following
factors: a) its spring water is hot at 59 degrees centigrade; b) excellent natural setting; c)
presence of other tourist attractions, e.g. dolphins in the Tanon Strait-Malabuyoc side; and d)
proximity to Moalboal and Badian which are both existing resort areas in Cebu. In addition,
the community around the area enjoys the luxury of electricity and potable water supply as
well as the communication facilities that consist of mobile phones and a public calling office
located in the town’s center.