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Nature of the Crust in the Southern Part of the Bay of Bengal and the Adjacent Part of the Central Basin (Indian Ocean)

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Abstract

Based on the data of deep seismic sounding, which were obtained in 2003 on the R/V Mezen in the Bay of Bengal, two velocity sections have been constructed that characterize the structure of the crust in its southern part. Seismic studies have shown that, in the Bengal sector of the East Indian Ridge (EIR), a subcontinental type of crust is developed, the thickness of which reaches 19.5 km. At the western foot of the EIR, the velocity section is represented by a reduced transitional crust 13 km in thickness. Using the NGDS digitized database of the thickness of the sedimentary cover in the Indian Ocean, which is freely available on the Internet, a map of the depths of the acoustic basement is built which makes it possible to identify the morphological features of its structure. A seismostratigraphic analysis is carried out of the structure of the sedimentary cover that has developed (a) on horst blocks grouped at the foot of the western slope of the EIR, (b) on the crest of the EIR, and (c) in the adjacent part of the Central Basin. It is established that, in the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene, the Bengal sector of the EIR and horst blocks represented a single platform structure. In the latest phase of tectonic activation, which manifested itself in the late Miocene–Pliocene, the platform was divided into horst blocks, which experienced differentiated subsidence. It has been established that horst blocks play the main role in the structure of Ridge 85°. This ridge is not structurally unrelated to the Afanasy Nikitin Rise and, by its nature, is not a “tracer ridge.”

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the opportunity to get acquainted with the primary geological and geophysical material, we are deeply grateful to I.N. Ponomareva (PGO Yuzhmorgeologiya, Gelendzhik) and A.P. Cherednichenko (Odessa Mechnikov National University, Ukraine).

We thank N.I. Pavlenkova and F.L. Yakovlev (Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences), as well as Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences E.A. Dolginov for valuable advice in discussing the issues raised in the article.

Funding

This work was supported by the state order of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, subject no. FMWU-2022-0010 and State Task of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, subject no. FMWE-2021-0011.

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  1. Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123995, Moscow, Russia

    V. K. Illarionov, V. Yu. Burmin & A. N. Boyko

  2. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117218, Moscow, Russia

    V. K. Illarionov, O. Yu. Ganzha, D. A. Ilyinsky & K. A. Roginskiy

  3. Institute of Geological and Environmental Sciences in Toulouse, 31400, Toulouse, France

    A. Yu. Borisova

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Illarionov, V.K., Ganzha, O.Y., Ilyinsky, D.A. et al. Nature of the Crust in the Southern Part of the Bay of Bengal and the Adjacent Part of the Central Basin (Indian Ocean). Izv. Atmos. Ocean. Phys. 58, 1289–1311 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001433822100048

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