Origin of the northern Indus Fan and Murray Ridge, Northern Arabian Sea: interpretation from seismic and magnetic imaging

C. Gaedicke, H. U. Schluter, A. Prexl, B. Schreckenberger, H. Meyer, C. Reichert, Peter Dominic Clift, S. Amjad

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The nature and origin of the sediments and crust of the Murray Ridge System and northern Indus Fan are discussed. The uppermost unit consists of Middle Miocene to recent channel-levee complexes typical of submarine fans. This unit is underlain by a second unit composed of hemipelagic to pelagic sediments deposited during the drift phase after the break-up of India-Seychelles-Africa, A predrift sequence of assumed Mesozoic age occurring only as observed above basement ridges is composed of highly consolidated rocks. Different types of the acoustic basement were detected, which reflection seismic pattern, magnetic anomalies and gravity field modeling indicate to be of continental character. The continental crust is extremely thinned in the northern Indus Fan, lacking a typical block-faulted structure. The Indian continent-ocean transition is marked on single MCS profiles by sequences of seaward-dipping reflectors (SDR). In the northwestern Arabian Sea, the Indian plate margin is characterized by several phases of volcanism and deformation revealed from interpretation of multichannel seismic profiles and magnetic anomalies. From this study, thinned continental crust spreads between the northern Murray Ridge System and India underneath the northern Indus Fan. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)127-143
Number of pages16
JournalTectonophysics
Volume355
Issue number1-4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2002

Keywords

  • Murray Ridge
  • northern Arabian Sea
  • continental crust
  • plate boundary
  • seaward-dipping reflectors
  • INDIAN-OCEAN
  • PLATE BOUNDARIES
  • EXTENSION
  • GULF
  • OMAN
  • GONDWANALAND
  • TRANSITION
  • BREAKUP

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