Skip to main content
Log in

Intra-plate Deformation, Great Earthquakes and Nascent Plate Boundary in the Indian Ocean

  • Published:
Journal of the Geological Society of India

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  • Bergman, E.A. and Solomon, S.C. (1995) Earthquake source mechanism from body-waveform inversion intraplate tectonics in the northern Indian Ocean. Physics Earth Planet. Interiors, v.40, pp.1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bull, J.M. and Scrutton, R.A. (1990) Fault reactivation in the central Indian Ocean and the rheology of oceanic lithosphere. Nature, v.344, pp.855–858.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carton, H., Singh, S.C., Hananto, N.D., Martin, J., Djajadihardja, Y.S., Udrekh, Franke, D. and Gaedicke, C. (2014) Deep seismic reflection images of the Wharton Basin oceanic crust and uppermost mantle offshore northern Sumatra: Relation with active and past deformation. Jour. Geophys. Res. v.119, pp.32–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamot-Rooke, N., Jestin, F., de Voogd, B. and Phèdre Working Group (1993) Intraplate shortening in the central Indian Ocean determined from a 2100-km-long north-south deep seismic reflection profile. Geology, v.21, pp.1043–1046.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran, J. R. (1990) Himalayan uplift, sea level, and the record of Bengal Fan sedimentation at the ODP Leg 116 sites. Proceed Ocean Drilling Program Scientific Results, v.116, pp.397–414.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coudurier-Curveur, A., Karakas, C., Singh, S. C., Tapponnier, P. Carton, H. and Hananto, N., (2020) Is there a nascent plate boundary in the northern Indian Ocean. Geophys. Res. Lett. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL0887362

  • Delescluse, M. and Chamot-Rooke, N. (2007) Instantaneous deformation and kinematics of the India-Australia plate. Geophys. Jour. Internat., v.168, pp.818–842, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2006.03181.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deplus, C. (2001) Indian Ocean actively deforms. Science, v.292, pp.1850–1851, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1061082.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deplus, C., Diament, M., Hebert, H., Bertrand, G., Dominguez, S., Dubois, J., Malod, J., Patriat, P., Pontoise, B., and Sibilla, J.-J. (1998) Direct evidence of active deformation in the eastern Indian oceanic plate. Geology, v.26, pp.131–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duputel, Z., Kanamori, H., Tsai, V. C., Rivera, L., Meng, L. S., Ampuero, J. P. and Stock, J. (2012) The 2012 Sumatra great earthquake sequence. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v.351–352, pp.247–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekström, G., Nettles, M. and Dziewoñski, A. M. (2012) The global CMT project 2004–2010: Centroid moment tensors for 13,017 earthquakes. Physics Earth Planet. Interiors, v.200–201, pp.1–9, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pepi.2012.04.002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, R. G. and Houseman, G. A. (2015) Deformation of Indian Ocean lithosphere: Evidence for a highly nonlinear rheological law. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.121, pp.4434–4449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutenberg, B. and Richter, C.F. (1954) Seismicity of the Earth and Associated Phenomena. Princeton University Press, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hananto, N. et al. (2018) Evidence of pervasive trans-tensional deformation in the northwestern Wharton Basin in the 2012 earthquakes rupture area. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v.502, pp.174–186, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.09.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, T.M., Copeland, P., Kidd, W.S.F. and Yin, A. (1992) Raising Tibet. Science, v.255, pp.1663–1670, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.255.5052.1663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, E.M., Yue, H., Barbot, S., Lay, T., Tapponnier, P., Hermawan, I., Hubbard, J., Banerjee, P., Feng, L., Natawidjaja, D. and Sieh, K. (2015) The 2012 Mw 8.6 Wharton Basin sequence: A cascade of earthquakes generated by near orthogonal, young, oceanic mantle faults. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.120, pp.3723–3747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, J., Dyment, J. and Yatheesh, V. (2014) Revisiting the structure, age, and evolution of the Wharton Basin to better understand subduction under Indonesia. Jour. Geophys. Res., v. 119, pp.169–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krishna, K.S., Bull, J.M. and Scrutton, R.A. (2009) Early (pre-8 Ma) fault activity and temporal strain accumulation in the central Indian Ocean. Geology, v.37, pp.227–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lay, T., Ye, L., Ammon, C.J., Dunham, A. and Koper, K.D. (2016) The 2 March 2016 Wharton Basin Mw 7.8 earthquake: High stress drop north-south strike-slip rupture in the diffuse oceanic deformation zone between the Indian and Australian Plates. Geophys. Res. Lett., v.43, pp.7937–7945, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069931.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McNeill, L.C., et al. (2017) Understanding Himalayan erosion and the significance of the Nicobar Fan. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v.475, pp.134–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng, L., Ampuero, J.-P., Stock, J., Duputel, Z., Luo, Y. and Tsai, V. C. (2012). Earthquake in a maze: Compressional rupture branching during the 2012 Mw 8.6 Sumatra earthquake. Science, v.337, pp.724–726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molnar, P., England, P. and Martinod, J. (1993) Mantle dynamics, uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, and Indian Monsoon. Rev. Geophys., v.31, pp.357–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petroy, D. E. and Wiens, D. A. (1989) Historical seismicity and implications for diffuse plate convergence in the northeast Indian Ocean. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.94, pp.12301–12319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prawirodirdjo, L., Bock, Y., Genrich, J. F., Puntodewo, S. S. O., Rais, J., Subarya, C. and Sutisna, S. (2000) One century of tectonic deformation along the Sumatran fault from triangulation and GPS surveys. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.105, pp.28343–28361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, Y. and Singh, S.C. (2015) Seismic evidence of a two-layer lithospheric deformation in the Indian Ocean. Nature Communications, v.6, pp.9298. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Royer, J.-Y. and Gordon, R. G. (1997) The motion and boundary between the Capricorn and Australian plates. Science, v.277, pp.1268–1274, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5330.1268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satriano, C., Kiraly, E., Bernard, P. and Vilotte, J.-P. (2012) The 2012 Mw 8.6 Sumatra earthquake: Evidence of westward sequential seismic ruptures associated to the reactivation of a N-S ocean fabric. Geophys. Res. Lett., v.39, L15302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, S.C., Hananto, N., Qin, Y., Leclerc, F., Avianto, P., Tapponnier, P.E., Carton, H., Wei, S., Nugroho, A. B., Gemilang, W. A., Sieh, K. and Barbot, S. (2017) The Discovery of a Conjugate System of Faults in the Wharton Basin Intra-plate Deformation Zone. Science Advances, v.3, e1601689, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, S.C., Carton, H., Chauhan, A.S., Androvandi, S., Davaille, A., Dyment, J., Cannat, M. and Hananto, N.D. (2011) Extremely thin crust in the Indian Ocean possibly resulting from plume-ridge interaction. Geophys. Jour. Internat., v.184, pp.29–42, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04823.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, S. and Okal, E.A. (1978) Seismicity and tectonics of the Ninetyeast Ridge area: Evidence for internal deformation of the Indian plate. Jour. Geophys. Res.: Solid Earth, v.83(B5), pp.2233–2245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, D.E., McNeill, L., Henstock, T.A., Delescluse, M., Chamot-Rooke, N. and Bull, J. (2020) A complete structural model and kinematic history for distributed deformation in the Wharton Basin. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., v.538, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116218.

  • Sykes, L.R. (1970) Seismicity of the Indian Ocean and a possible nascent island arc between Ceylon and Australia. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.75, pp.5041–5055.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei, S., Helmberger, D. and Avouac, J.-P. (2013) Modeling the 2012 Wharton Basin earthquake off Sumatra; complete lithospheric failure. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.118, pp.3592–3609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yue, H., Lay, T. and Koper, K.D. (2012) En echelon and orthogonal fault ruptures of the 11 April 2012 great intraplate earthquakes. Nature, v.490, pp.245–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiens, D. A. and Stein, S. (1984). Intraplate seismicity and stresses in young oceanic lithosphere. Jour. Geophys. Res., v.89, pp.11442–11464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The bathymetry and seismic reflection data were acquired by the French R/V Marion Dufresne in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and the deep seismic reflection by Western Geco M/V Geco Searcher in 2006. The seismic image shown in Fig.4 is prepared by Muriel Laurencin. I would like to thank Dhananjai Pandey for providing information about MoES projects and Fig. 6.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satish C. Singh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, S.C. Intra-plate Deformation, Great Earthquakes and Nascent Plate Boundary in the Indian Ocean. J Geol Soc India 97, 681–686 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-021-1750-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-021-1750-y

Navigation