See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/226672764

Magnetic anomalies of offshore Krishna-Godavari basin, eastern continental

margin of India

Article  in  Journal of Earth System Science · August 2009

DOI: 10.1007/s12040-009-0036-3

CITATIONS READS

5 269

6 authors, including:

Kandadai Venkatacharya Swamy I. V Radhakrishna Murthy

Adikavi Nannaya University Andhra University
8 PUBLICATIONS   61 CITATIONS    57 PUBLICATIONS   621 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Krishna K.s. K S R Murthy

University of Hyderabad National Institute of Oceanography
95 PUBLICATIONS   1,663 CITATIONS    66 PUBLICATIONS   463 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Continental margins and deep ocean tectonics View project

Magnetic anomalies and basement structure of EGMB View project

All content following this page was uploaded by I. V Radhakrishna Murthy on 26 May 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Magnetic anomalies of offshore Krishna–Godavari basin,
eastern continental margin of India

K V Swamy1, I V Radhakrishna Murthy2, K S Krishna3,∗, K S R Murthy4,

A S Subrahmanyam4 and M M Malleswara Rao4
1
Department of Geo-informatics, Adikavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry 533 105, India.
2
Department of Geophysics, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, India.
3
National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,
Dona Paula, Goa 403 004, India.
4
Regional Centre, National Institute of Oceanography, Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, Visakhapantam 530 017, India.
∗
e-mail: [email protected]

The marine magnetic data acquired from offshore Krishna–Godavari (K–G) basin, eastern conti-
nental margin of India (ECMI), brought out a prominent NE–SW trending feature, which could
be explained by a buried structural high formed by volcanic activity. The magnetic anomaly fea-
ture is also associated with a distinct negative gravity anomaly similar to the one associated with
85◦ E Ridge. The gravity low could be attributed to a flexure at the Moho boundary, which could
in turn be filled with the volcanic material. Inversion of the magnetic and gravity anomalies was
also carried out to establish the similarity of anomalies of the two geological features (structural
high on the margin and the 85◦ E Ridge) and their interpretations. In both cases, the magnetic
anomalies were caused dominantly by the magnetization contrast between the volcanic material
and the surrounding oceanic crust, whereas the low gravity anomalies are by the flexures of the
order of 3–4 km at Moho boundary beneath them. The analysis suggests that both structural high
present in offshore Krishna–Godavari basin and the 85◦ E Ridge have been emplaced on relatively
older oceanic crust by a common volcanic process, but at discrete times, and that several of the
gravity lows in the Bay of Bengal can be attributed to flexures on the Moho, each created due to
the load of volcanic material.

1. Introduction understanding the events that occurred during

the break-up. Of these, the Krishna–Godavari
The Bengal Fan and the eastern continental margin (K–G) basin with its high hydrocarbon produc-
of India (ECMI) have been the seats of vigor- tion potential, extending over 28, 000 km2 on land,
ous geophysical exploration for several decades. 24, 000 km 2 in ‘shallow’ (by current definition,
Studies on ECMI are significant due to the pre- a depth of up to 400 m) waters offshore and
sence of major river basins such as Cauvery, 18, 000 km 2 in deep waters (up to 2000 m), was rel-
Krishna–Godavari and Mahanadi on it. These river atively better surveyed (Shastri et al 1973, 1974;
basins were formed due to the break-up of the Shenai and Rao 1982; Kumar 1983; Venkateswarlu
Peninsular India from the Combined Antarctica et al 1992a, 1992b; Murthy et al 1995) than the
and Australia and subsequent down-warping of the other eastern margin basins.
eastern part of the Indian shield (Sahni 1982), and A significant magnetic anomaly closure was iden-
hence studies on the continental margins help in tified on the continental slope off Machilipatnam

Keywords. Magnetic anomalies; Krishna–Godavari basin; eastern continental margin of India; 85◦ E Ridge.

J. Earth Syst. Sci. 118, No. 4, August 2009, pp. 405–412

© Printed in India. 405
406 K V Swamy et al

Figure 1. Total field magnetic anomaly profiles overlapped above the etopo5 bathymetry contours of a part of offshore
K–G basin, India, plotted along the cruise tracks. The darkened portions along the profiles represent the positive anomalies.
The bathymetry values are in meters.

(location is shown in figure 1) in offshore K–G basin from the other interpretations which attributed
by Venkateswarlu et al (1992b). They attributed it the strong gravity low of the 85◦ E Ridge to sev-
to a submerged volcano without giving any expla- eral anomaly sources, viz., thickening of the crust
nation for its origin. Subsequently Murthy et al beneath the ridge on account of the isostatic com-
(1995) from their preliminary reconstruction of pensation (Liu et al 1982; Gopala Rao et al 1997;
the evolutionary stages of the offshore K–G basin Subrahmanyam et al 1999), an up-warped model
have also identified the same magnetic anomaly of the ridge with a low-density crust and a shallow
feature from their data. Interestingly, this isolated root (Ramana et al 1997) and combined sources of
magnetic anomaly feature coincides with one of the meta-sediments having high densities against the
several conspicuous gravity lows present in the Bay volcanic material, and flexure at Moho boundary
of Bengal (Gopala Rao et al 1997; Subrahmanyam due to volcanic load of the ridge (Krishna 2003).
et al 2001; Krishna 2003; Krishna et al 2009). Subrahmanyam et al (2001) have also opined that
The gravity low corresponding to the present each gravity low in the Bay of Bengal should be
magnetic anomaly can be identified with the fea- associated with a structural high like feature as in
ture marked as E in figure 2 of Subrahmanyam the case of 85◦ E Ridge, and need to be explained
et al (2001). Subrahmanyam et al (2001) modeled by a corresponding flexure in the mantle.
the strong gravity low associated with the sub- In this paper, a prominent NE–SW trending iso-
merged 85◦ E Ridge and convincingly attributed it lated magnetic anomaly feature and the associ-
to a depression-like structure in the Moho, cre- ated gravity low in the offshore K–G basin, ECMI,
ated by the volcanic load of the ridge which has were inverted for determining the source and dis-
as much density as that of the oceanic crust. The cussed its probable evolution. The anomalies of the
proposition of Subrahmanyam et al (2001) differed present feature are found to be similar to those of
 Magnetic anomalies of offshore Krishna–Godavari basin 407

Figure 2. Magnetic anomaly map of the off-shore Krishna–Godavari Basin contoured at an interval of 20 nT. Solid contours
indicate positive anomalies and dashed contours the negative anomalies. The lines A–A , B–B , C–C , D–D and E–E
indicate the profiles along which the anomalies were inverted for causative structures. The E-W line indicates the position
of the MAN-01 cruise track (see figure 3) in the study area. The ship tracks were also indicated in grayish scale.

the 85◦ E Ridge and the genesis of both the features (IGRF). All the profiles are confined to the con-
is the same. tinental shelf-slope-margin from about 30 m to
3500 m water depth. The magnetic anomalies con-
toured at an interval of 20 nT are also shown in
2. Geophysical data and magnetic figure 2.
anomaly character Published seismic reflection results along
14.64◦ N latitude from ECMI to the 85◦ E Ridge
Bathymetry and total field magnetic data along (Gopala Rao et al 1997), which brought out the
twenty NW–SE profiles (G192-11 to G192-30), basement details along with the isolated structural
totaling about 3100 line kilometers and covering an feature in the offshore K–G basin and the 85◦ E
area of about 67, 200 km2 on ECMI between 80.2◦ E Ridge and the distribution of overlying sedimen-
and 82.8◦ E longitudes and 14◦ N and 16.2◦ N lati- tary sequences were used in this work to constrain
tudes were collected during the 192 cruise of the magnetic and gravity interpretations. The seismic
research vessel RV Gaveshani by the Regional Cen- results along with gravity and magnetic anomalies
ter of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), of the profile (MAN-01) are shown in figure 3.
Visakhapatnam (figure 1). Bathymetry and mag- The profile-plots of magnetic anomaly along the
netic data were obtained by deploying a Sim- ship-tracks (figure 1) and the anomaly contour
rad Echo-sounder and Barringer magnetometer. map (figure 2) bring out low to medium ampli-
A satellite receiver (MX 1107) was used for posi- tude magnetic signatures ranging from −290 to
tioning during the survey. The magnetic data were +200 nT. The entire area is magnetically disturbed
corrected for the variation in the regional field and can be divided into two parts, viz., (a) the
408 K V Swamy et al

Figure 3. Line section of a part of multi channel section along MAN-01 profile across Bay of Bengal with free-air gravity
and total field magnetic anomalies along it. Location of the profile is shown in figure 2.

western part lying near the coast and (b) the east- point to the anomaly-producing interface. The pro-
ern part, between 2400 and 3500 m isobaths in gram assumes the undisturbed/mean depth to the
the abyssal plain. Several high frequency short- interface (Z), intensity of effective magnetization
wavelength anomalies with different trends are con- (J) and its dip (φ). The residual anomalies on each
spicuous in the western part (a) near the coast of the profiles were inverted for different combina-
and they may be related to the continental shelf tions Z, J and φ. The values of mean depth were
and slope parts of the study area. The eastern varied between 8 and 15 km at an interval of 1 km.
part of the study area, i.e., the abyssal plain shows The intensity of magnetization was similarly var-
a conspicuous NE–SW trending anomalous fea- ied between 200 × 10−5 and 1500 × 10−5 cgs units
ture extending between 81◦ E and 82.5◦ E longi- at an interval of 50 × 10−5 cgs units and differ-
tudes and 14◦ N and 16◦ N latitudes. The positive ent values of dip of effective magnetization were
anomalies are flanked by strong negative anom- used for the inversion. Each combination of these
alies. This is the anomaly feature that was ear- three parameters gives an independent solution
lier reported by Venkateswarlu et al (1992b) and for the given input data. The solution associated
Murthy et al (1995). This anomaly feature is with a relatively low value of the objective func-
further investigated in detail in this paper for its tion, systematically small errors throughout the
genesis, and is compared with that of the 85◦ E length of the profile and a comparatively smoother
Ridge to understand the genetic relations between interface without any unreasonable differences in
the two individual geological structures. depth between any two successive stations was
accepted.
The magnetic anomalies along a typical profile
3. Inversion of the magnetic A–A (figure 4A) were interpreted for structures
anomalies at two depths (11 km and 14 km) and both the
interpretations are presented in figure 4(A and B).
Five principal anomaly profiles were constructed The depth of 11 km is relevant because, it is at
from the magnetic anomaly contour map (figure 2) this level the oceanic crust lies in the study area
and were subjected to rigorous quantitative analy- (from the seismic results shown in figure 3). If
sis to ascertain the causative source. Initial the interpretation associated with this depth is
attempts to explain the anomaly by an intrusion accepted, the anomaly is deemed to be caused by
through a dyke model failed because the model the structure on the oceanic crust. The equivalent
results brought out unusual low values of the depth geological model is presented in figure 4(C). The
to the dyke which cannot be justified by the seismic inversion of the profile for this mean depth of 11 km
results (figure 3). These profiles were then inverted puts the basement close to 6.0 km, which cannot be
for a probable structure at depth using the pro- explained by the known thickness of 6.5 km of the
gram TMAG2DIN (Radhakrishna Murthy 1998), water and sediments together over the structural
which calculates the depths below each observation high, as recorded in MAN-01 (Gopala Rao et al
 Magnetic anomalies of offshore Krishna–Godavari basin 409

consistently bring out a structural high below the

sediments whose base is at 14 km with an effective
magnetization of 700 × 10−5 cgs units with a dip of
−25◦ . In all these cases, the structure did not show
depths shallower than 8.0 km.

4. Interpretation of the gravity low

The free-air gravity anomalies associated with

the region were collected from the MAN-01 pro-
file along 14.64◦ N latitude as shown in figure 3
and projected on to the profile A–A . This pro-
jected gravity low (figure 6A) is inverted through
the programme GR2DIN of Radhakrishna Murthy
(1998). The low gravity anomaly is assumed to
be produced mostly due to the undulations in the
Moho at an undisturbed depth of 16 km with a
density contrast of 0.5 gm/cc (2.9 gm/cc for the
oceanic crust and 3.4 gm/cc for the mantle). The
assumed undisturbed depth of 16 km for the Moho
is reasonable, because of the established minimum
of 3 km water depth in the K–G basin, a sedi-
ment thickness of about 8 km overlying the oceanic
crust and the average thickness of 5 km of the
oceanic crust. The inversion shown in figure 6(B)
explains the anomaly by a 3–4 km downward
Figure 4. (A) Magnetic anomalies along the profile A–A flexure in the Moho boundary. The probable
shown in figure 2, and their interpretation for the mean
depth at 11 km (B). The equivalent geological cross-section
geological cross-section from the combined geo-
for (B) is shown in (C). Another possibility of interpreta- physical interpretation of gravity and magnetic
tion for the mean depth at 14 km (D). anomalies below the profile A–A is shown in
figure 6(C).

1997). Further such a basement structure should 5. Gravity and magnetic anomalies
produce a strong positive gravity anomaly due to of the 85◦ E Ridge
the high density of basalts (2.9 gm/cc) compared
to the sediments (2.6 gm/cc). However, the grav- As the geophysical features of the present struc-
ity anomaly recorded in this region is negative (see ture are quite similar to those of the 85◦ E Ridge,
figure 3). its magnetic (figure 7A) and gravity (figure 7C)
On the other hand, the inversion of the profile anomalies were also collected from MAN-01 pro-
assuming a mean depth of 14 km for the interface file (Gopala Rao et al 1997), and their interpre-
places the shallowest depth of the source close to tations are included in figure 7 for comparison.
8.0 km (figure 4D), which is below the known thick- The structure explaining the magnetic anomalies
ness of the water column and the sediments above of the 85◦ E Ridge again rested on the 14 km depth
the structural high. The structure has an effec- (figure 7B), and its elevated topography coincided
tive magnetization of 700 × 10−5 cgs units with a extremely well with the seismic results of the 85◦ E
dip of −25◦ . The chosen depth of 14 km in the Ridge (along profile MAN-01). The gentle rise of
present interpretation is significant for the follo- the ridge on the east and its sharp fall on the
wing reasons. It represents the level where the tem- west typically correlate with the known seismic
perature can be more than 550◦ C, i.e., the Curie results. The interpretation brings out an effective
temperature below which the magnetite mineral magnetization of 0.015 cgs units with a dip of 30◦ .
loses its magnetic properties and ceases to produce The gravity low of the ridge is again explained
any magnetic anomaly. Also it is approximately by about 3–4 km downward flexure in the Moho
2 km above the Moho boundary, which is lying at from its undisturbed depth of 16.0 km (figure 7D).
about 16 km from the sea surface. Earlier, Subrahmanyam et al (2001) also have
Inversion of the magnetic anomalies along the published similar results for the 85◦ E Ridge for
four other profiles, viz., BB , CC , DD and EE other location. The probable geological model lying
(figure 2) are shown the figure 5. All these profiles below the 85◦ E Ridge is shown in figure 7(E).
410 K V Swamy et al

Figure 5. Interpretation of magnetic anomalies along the profiles B–B (a), C–C (b), D–D (c) and E–E (d) (see figure 2).
The circles on the anomaly curves indicate the calculated anomalies.

6. Discussion load above the 14 km depth and the basaltic layer

surrounding the volcanic load on one hand, and
The inversion of magnetic anomalies in the offshore the magnetization contrast between the volcanic
K–G basin indicates the presence of a NE–SW load and the sediments overlying the basaltic layer
trending buried ridge like feature (∼ 200 km in on the other, the former, however, contributing a
length), which is shown deceptively as a base- major share. This volcanic load can have the same
ment high in the seismic reflection data. The density as that of the basalt, so that the negative
observed magnetic anomalies cannot be explained gravity anomaly associated with it is attributed
by structures on the oceanic crust; as such an dominantly due to the downward flexures at the
interpretation puts the basement too shallow to Moho boundary. These flexures could have been
be convincingly explained by bathymetry. Such an developed by the emplaced volcanic loads.
interpretation is also ruled out by the presence of This interpretation of gravity and magnetic
a negative gravity anomaly. The magnetic feature anomalies is similar to the one on the 85◦ E Ridge.
can only be explained by a feature that is having The gravity low of the 85◦ E Ridge was already
its base at 14 km. However, ridge like structures on attributed to a depression like structure in the
the Moho and their projection into the crust and Moho by Subrahmanyam et al (2001) and to a
sediments are simply not possible. Even if possi- flexure caused by regional isostatic compensation
ble, such a contingency should produce a strong by Krishna (2003). The magnetic anomalies of the
gravity high, instead of the observed low. Then ridge are attributed to the volcanic construct above
the logical inference is that the source causing the the Moho level, which can create a depression in
anomalies is different from that of the crust/mantle the Moho causing the gravity low. Thus the inter-
material, in which case the source may be a vol- pretation of gravity and magnetic anomalies in the
canic load emplaced into the already evolved and offshore K–G basin compare well with that of the
relatively older oceanic crust. If it is so, all the 85◦ E Ridge. Then it can be safely reiterated that
crust/mantle material below the 14 km depth several of the gravity lows in the Bay of Bengal,
and the 3–4 km depression like structures on the may be associated with flexures in the Moho, which
Moho, if any, will not contribute to the magnetic are formed due to and occupied by the volcanic
anomalies, due to the high temperatures below loads that are emplaced into the relatively older
14 km depth. The anomalies are then caused by oceanic crust and sitting on the oceanic crust show-
the magnetization contrast between the volcanic ing deceptively as a basement high. The effective
 Magnetic anomalies of offshore Krishna–Godavari basin 411

Figure 6. Gravity anomaly (A) over the anomalous feature

Figure 7. Inversion of total field magnetic (A) and free-air
in the K–G basin and its inversion for structures in Moho
gravity (C) anomalies observed along MAN-01 profile
(B). The probable geological cross-section section explain-
over 85◦ E Ridge. Interpreted structures are shown in (B)
ing the gravity and magnetic anomalies is shown in (C).
and (D) respectively. The plausible geological cross-section
below the ridge is shown in (E).

magnetizations of 0.015 cgs units with a dip of +30◦

for 85◦ E Ridge and 0.007 cgs units with a dip of splitting. The first break-up occurred with sepa-
−25◦ for the structure in the K–G basin may indi- ration of Greater India from Australia and East
cate the possibility of exhumation of volcanic mate- Antarctica during the Early Cretaceous (Curray
rial at two different geological times with reverse et al 1982; Royer and Coffin 1992; Gopala Rao et al
and normal polarity. 1997; Müller et al 2000). In the second stage, the
The discussed NE–SW trend magnetic anom- Elan Bank, a micro-continent, which presently lies
aly on the margin is away from another significant on the western margin of the Kerguelen Plateau in
anomaly associated with the 85◦ E Ridge. On the the southern Indian Ocean, got detached from the
basis of seismic results earlier Gopala Rao et al eastern margin of India at about 120 Ma (Gaina
(1997) have correlated the margin structure with et al 2003). From these results, it can be inferred
another structure that lies on the west of 85◦ E that most part of the oceanic crust in the Bay of
Ridge at 13◦ N latitude and suggested the pres- Bengal was evolved during the Cretaceous Mag-
ence of NW trending fracture zone. Subsequent netic quiet period (120–84 Ma). Hence there are no
new ship-borne geophysical and satellite geoid and pronounced magnetic anomaly lineations observed
gravity datasets (Krishna 2003; Krishna et al 2009) in the Bay of Bengal as there is no contrast of
have brought more clarity on structural fabric magnetic polarity in the oceanic crust (Murthy
within the western basin, particularly outlining of et al 1993; Gopala Rao et al 1997; Subrahmanyam
fracture zones and locations of structural highs. et al 1997). At subsequent ages during the late
Interestingly the structural highs are orthogonal to Cretaceous the Crozet hotspot had emplaced the
the trends of fracture zones. 85◦ E Ridge and some isolated structural highs on
The ECMI had witnessed two continental break- already evolved Cretaceous quiet period oceanic
ups in the early stages of eastern Gondwana crust. The 85◦ E Ridge has began its formation at
 412 K V Swamy et al

∼ 85 Ma in northern Bay of Bengal and formed around Australia; In: The history and dynamics of
on older (∼ 35 m.y.) oceanic crust of the Bay Global Plate Motions (eds) Richards M A, Gordon R G
and Vander Hilst R D, pp. 161–189, AGU Geophysical
of Bengal. As the 85◦ E Ridge and the isolated Monograph 121.
structural high considered in the present study Murthy K S R, Rao T C S, Subrahmanyam A S, Rao M M M
are younger than underlying oceanic crust, the and Lakshminarayana S 1993 Structural lineaments from
lithosphere beneath the ridge and the structural the magnetic anomaly map of the eastern continental
high are down-flexed up to 4 km in response to margin of India (ECMI) and NW Bengal Fan, Marine
Geology 114 171–183.
the volcanic loads. From the different dips of effec- Murthy K S R, Subrahmanyam A S, Lakshminarayana S,
tive magnetization for the volcanic rocks of the Chandrasekhar D V and Rao T C S 1995 Some geo-
85◦ E Ridge at 14.64◦ N latitude and structural dynamic aspects of Krishna–Godavari Basin, east coast
high close to the margin predicted in this study, it of India, Cont. Shelf Res. 15 779–788.
may be inferred that they were formed in reversed Radhakrishna Murthy I V 1998 Gravity and magnetic inter-
pretation in exploration geophysics; Geological Society of
and normal geomagnetic periods after Cretaceous India, Memoir 45, Bangalore.
magnetic quiet period. Ramana M V, Subrahmanyam V, Chaubey A K,
Ramprasad T, Sarma K V L N S, Krishna K S, Maria
Desa, Murthy G P S and Subrahmanyam C 1997 Struc-
Acknowledgements ture and origin of the 85◦ E Ridge, J. Geophys. Res. 102
17,995–18,012.
Royer J Y and Coffin M F 1992 Jurassic to Eocene
K V S is thankful to the Indian Academy of plate tectonic reconstructions in the Kerguelene Plateau
Sciences, Bangalore for the award of Summer region; In: Proc. Ocean Drilling Prog. (eds) Wise J S W,
Research Fellowship to work at National Institute Julson A P, Schlich R and Thomas E, Sci. Res. 120
of Oceanography, Goa. I V R acknowledges the 917–930. Texas A & M University, College Station, TX.
support of CSIR for Emeritus Scientist position. Sahni A 1982 The structure, sedimentation and evolution
of Indian continental margins; In: The ocean basins and
This is NIO contribution no. 4526. margins, Indian Ocean (eds) Nairn A E M and Stehli G G
(New York: Plenum Press) 353–398.
Shastri V V, Sinha R N, Singh G and Murti K V S 1973
References Stratigraphy and tectonics of sedimentary basins on the
east coast of India; American Association of Petroleum
Curray J R, Emmel F J, Moore D G and Russel W R Geologists Bulletin 57 655–678.
1982 Structure, tectonics, and geological history of Shastri V V, Venkatachala B S and Narayanan V 1974 Evo-
the northeastern Indian Ocean, In: The Ocean Basins lution of Mesozoic sedimentary basins on the east coast
and Margins, The Indian Ocean (eds) Nairn A E and of India; APEA J. 14 29–41.
Stehli F G (New York: Plenum) 6 399–450. Shenai K R and Rao M S 1982 Exploration in the off-
Gaina C, Müller R D, Brown B and Ishihara T 2003 Micro- shore Godavari–Krishna basins; Bulletin of ONGC 19(2)
continental formation around Australia; In: The evolu- 293–300.
tion and dynamics of the Australian Plate (eds) Hillis R Subrahmanyam A S, Murthy K S R, Lakshminarayana S,
and Muller R D, Joint Geol. Soc. of Aust. Am. Spec. Pap. Rao M M M, Venkateswarlu K and Rao T C S 1997 Mag-
22 399–410. netic expression of some major lineaments and Creta-
Gopala Rao D, Krishna K S and Sar D 1997 Crustal ceous quiet zone in the Bay of Bengal; Geo-Marine Lett.
evolution and sedimentation history of the Bay of 17 202–206.
Bengal since the Cretaceous; J. Geophys. Res. 102(B8) Subrahmanyam C, Thakur N K, Gangadhara Rao T,
17,747–17,768. Ramesh Kanna, Ramana M V and Subrahmanyam V
Krishna K S 2003 Structure and evolution of the Afanasy 1999 Tectonics of the Bay of Bengal: New insights from
Nikitin seamount, buried hills and 85◦ E Ridge in the satellite-gravity and ship-borne geophysical data; Earth
northeastern Indian Ocean; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 209 Planet. Sci. Lett. 171 237–251.
379–394. Subrahmanyam V, Krishna K S, Radhakrishna Murthy I V,
Krishna K S, Michael L, Bhattacharyya R and Sarma K V L N S, Maria Desa, Ramana M V and Kamesh
Majumdar T J 2009 Geoid and gravity anomaly data of Raju K A 2001 Gravity anomalies and crustal struc-
conjugate regions of Bay of Bengal and Enderby Basin – ture of the Bay of Bengal; Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 192
New constraints on breakup and early spreading history 447–456.
between India and Antarctica; J. Geophys. Res. 114 Venkateswarlu P D, Raghava Rao A M V and Bose P K
B03102, doi:10.1029/2008JB005808. 1992a Marine magnetic anomalies and associated tecton-
Kumar S P 1983 Geology and hydrocarbon prospects of ics along the east coast of India; In: Recent geoscientific
Krishna–Godavari and Cauvery basins; Petroleum Asia studies in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea; Geol.
Journal 6 57–65. Surv. India Spec. Publ. 29 61–70.
Liu C S, Sandwell D T and Curray J R 1982 The negative Venkateswarlu P D, Sengupta B J, Raghava Rao A M V
gravity field over the 85◦ E Ridge; J. Geophys. Res. 87 and Bose P K 1992b Marine magnetic indication
7673–7686. of a possible submerged volcano off Machilipat-
Müller R D, Gaina C, Tikku A, Mihut D, Cande S and nam in Bay of Bengal; J. Geological Soc. India 39
Stocvk J M 2000 Mesozoic/Cenozoic tectonic events 197–203.

MS received 27 November 2007; revised 12 March 2009; accepted 29 March 2009

View publication stats