Abstract
Summary. An unusual, isolated swarm of earthquakes occurred on the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge in the Central Indian Ocean between 1965 and 1970. Sixteen earthquakes were .located at approximately 6.0 S, 7 1.3 E on the steep west facing scarp of the Chagos Bank. This swarm forms the only major seismic activity in the period 1963-76 on the otherwise aseismic ridge. The mechanisms of the three largest earthquakes were studied using bodyand surface-wave data. All are extremely similar shallow normal fault events on an east-west fault plane. Such faulting is difficult to reconcile with that expected from either the trend of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge or the spreading direction at the nearby Central Indian Ridge. The swarm may have occurred at depth on a cross fracture remaining from the breakup of the Chagos Bank and the Mascarene Plateau and the formation of the present Central Indian Ridge.
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