Plate kinematics and passive margin development in the southern Indian Ocean
- Univ. of Texas, Austin (USA)
- Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (USA)
- Institute de Physique du Globe, Strasbourg (France)
- Bureau of Mineral Resources, Canberra (Australia)
- EAWAG, Duebendorf (Switzerland)
- Florida State Univ., Tallahassee (USA)
The development of the Indian Ocean began in the Middle to Late Jurassic with the breakup of Gondwanaland. Marine magnetic anomalies and limited Deep Sea Drilling Project and Ocean Drilling Program core samples have been used to date the crust. Fracture zone trends interpreted from satellite (Seasat and Geosat) altimetry and marine seismic, gravity, and magnetic data have been combined with crustal dates to product kinematic models of plate movements. Between Jurassic and Late Cretaceous time the plate tectonic evolution of the Indian Ocean is poorly known. Mesozoic marine magnetic anomalies offshore eastern Africa Antarctica, and Western Australia document plate motions during the interval; however, extensive areas of oceanic crust from which no anomalies have been identified and a dearth of fracture zones prevent detailed links with the much better defined plate kinematic synthesis of the past 80 m.y. The passive margins of the southern Indian Ocean flank eastern Africa, Madagascar, Antarctica, and Australia. Simple and pure shear models have been proposed to account for these margins' development but compelling evidence for a unique rifting mechanism has yet to be presented for any part of the margins. Each margin contains rifted and sheared sectors of markedly different structural style. Prerift sedimentary sections typically document a rift phase lasting several tens of millions of years before breakup occurred. Synrift sequences commonly contain evidence of volcanic activity. Variations in sediment supply and type, as well as variations in climate have resulted in widely differing postrift sedimentary sequences along the margins.
- OSTI ID:
- 6742211
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-900605-; CODEN: AABUD
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 74:5; Conference: Annual convention and exposition of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Francisco, CA (USA), 3-6 Jun 1990; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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