Basement morphology and rift geometry near the former junction of India, Australia, and Antarctica

Abstract

Magnetic and gravity anomaly data, together with features of the basement topography presented here show that the continental margin of western Australia, including the Naturaliste plateau, was shaped by NE-SW-trending rift segments offset by nearly orthogonal transform faults. A steep landward gradient of the isostatic gravity field and a lineated magnetic anomaly which occur together at the continental slope are interpreted as marking the ocean-continent boundary of the rifted margin off Perth and the sheared margin between Perth and the Wallaby plateaus. Anomalies diagnostic of the ocean-continent boundary are not observed at the margins of the Naturaliste plateau; the geometry of the rift zone here is adduced from the disposition of magnetic lineations, fracture zones, and basement features. A geophysical survey of the Naturaliste fracture zone shows it to be a continuous basement trough extending from the Diamantina fracture zone 800 km northwest to Dirck Hartog ridge. Similar basement troughs west of and orthogonal to the fracture zone imply that the region west/southwest of the Naturaliste plateau was, like the region north of it, formerly occupied by Greater India. Marine magnetic anomaly and basement trends suggest that the oceanic crust between the plateau and Diamantina fracture zone could be substantially older than Paleocene, heretofore the oldest crust identified between Australia and Antarctica.