Abstract
We attempt here to quantify and model physiographic features off the central west coast of India in terms of power spectral exponent, amplitude parameter. We demonstrate that statistical analysis of multi-beam echo-sounder grid bathymetry data is able to characterise the outer shelf, upper slope, shelf margin basin and several structural rises in the region. A scatter diagram analysis shows that the seafloor data can be grouped into two distinct clusters. Distinctly different clustering patterns are observed over the structural rises, compared to the shelf, slope and basinal areas. This suggests different modes of formation for the members of these two clusters. In fact, the steep structural rises appear to be part of the NW–SE-trending coast-parallel Mid-Shelf Basement and Prathap ridges. These ridges are rift-induced volcanic emplacements on a stretched and thinned continental crust which probably formed during mid-Cretaceous times.
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Acknowledgements
The Department of Ocean Development, New Delhi, supported this research through a grant for the EEZ project (GAP 1438 under MLP 0014). We thank V.N. Kodagali, A.L. Paropkari, B. Theerthesh and R. Madhupriya for timely help. Important suggestions from Dr. M.T. Delafontaine, Associate Editor, are gratefully acknowledged. This is NIO contribution 4124.
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Chakraborty, B., Mukhopadhyay, R., Jauhari, P. et al. Fine-scale analysis of shelf–slope physiography across the western continental margin of India. Geo-Mar Lett 26, 114–119 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-006-0022-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-006-0022-6