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The relationship between rifting and magmatism in the northeastern Arabian Sea

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 463–467 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The causal mechanisms linking continental flood basalts, lithospheric extension and mantle plumes, as well as the relative timing of extension and volcanism, are controversial1,2,3,4. The eruption of the Deccan flood basalts was approximately contemporaneous with the separation of the Seychelles microcontinent from India. However, between these continental blocks lies the enigmatic Laxmi Ridge, and the sequence of extensional events that formed these various tectonic elements is poorly understood. Here we present wide-angle seismic data along a profile across Laxmi Ridge that permit delineation of offshore igneous bodies associated with the Deccan magmatism; these bodies are similar to those associated with flood-basalt volcanism and rifting in the Atlantic region and elsewhere1. From the geometry of these bodies, we infer that there were two periods of extension. The first phase, which involved extension between Laxmi Ridge and the Indian subcontinent, was accompanied by significant Deccan-related magmatism. Full development of a continental margin was achieved during the second phase of weakly magmatic extension between Laxmi Ridge and the Seychelles. We suggest that between these rifting events the region passed beyond the reach of lateral flow from the source region of the Deccan flood basalts.

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Figure 1: Location of wide-angle seismic experiment with gravity anomalies27.
Figure 2: Seismic velocity model.
Figure 3: Comparison of velocity–depth profiles with those observed at North Atlantic margins.
Figure 4: Cartoon illustrating a model of events through time that is consistent with data.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) grants NER/A/S/2000/01332, 01390 and 01391, and by an NERC studentship to C.I.L. OBS/OBH deployment was supported by the EU Large Scale Facility at Geomar, Germany. We thank the officers, crew and technical and scientific staff of RRS Charles Darwin cruise 144 for their support, and G. Karner and C. Ebinger for constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, University of Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK

    Timothy A. Minshull, Christine I. Lane & Robert B. Whitmarsh

  2. Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK

    Jenny S. Collier

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  1. Timothy A. Minshull
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  2. Christine I. Lane
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Contributions

J.S.C., T.A.M. and R.B.W. planned and led the experiment. C.I.L. conducted the wide-angle seismic data analysis. All authors contributed to the magnetic modelling. T.A.M. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Timothy A. Minshull.

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Supplementary figures S1 and S2 (PDF 255 kb)

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Minshull, T., Lane, C., Collier, J. et al. The relationship between rifting and magmatism in the northeastern Arabian Sea. Nature Geosci 1, 463–467 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo228

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