Rifting between India and Madagascar – mechanism and isostasy

Abstract

The nature of isostasy along the Western Continental Margin of India (WCMI) and the Eastern Continental Margin of Madagascar (ECMM) and their conjugate nature are examined. The first part of the study deals with the estimation of effective elastic thickness (Te) of the lithosphere for the two margins through cross-spectral analysis of gravity and bathymetry data. The results bring out comparable Te values of 8–15 km for the WCMI and 10–13 km for the ECMM, despite the WCMI having been traversed along strike by a hotspot trace. We have also compared topographic profiles across the two margins extending inland, to examine the rift-flank uplift experienced by the two landmasses abutting the margins, which bear a striking similarity. These results establish the symmetrical rifting mechanism resulting in the formation of the two margins, and indicate that despite the presence of a hotspot trace along one margin (i.e. the WCMI), the two margins have comparable isostatic compensation mechanisms with low Te values. In the second part of the study we have examined the possible mechanism for the rift-flank uplifts using a process-oriented approach of backstripping the sediments along a traverse across the WCMI and reconstructing the original rift flank topography by flexurally backstacking the amount of eroded material on the present-day topography of the Western Ghats. The backstack load configuration is taken from the amount of erosion that took place over the Western Ghats, obtained from AFTA (Apatite Fission Track Analysis) studies. The reconstructed rift time topography and bathymetry are used to get the Moho configuration, which was used to calculate the gravity anomaly, and is compared with the observed anomaly to derive a possible evolution model for the region. We have tried to examine the observed gravity anomaly through two different processes. In the first process, a Te=15 km for backstripping and backstacking, and a compensated underplating for the topography give a best fit model to the observed gravity. In the second process, a necking model with a deep level of necking (20 km) with Te=15 km and without any underplating explains the topography as well as the observed gravity. The nature and amount of the Western Ghat topography and cratonic age (Archaen) of the pre-rifted crust of western India and eastern Madagascar are more in favor of the rifting mechanism (necking model) rather than due to the passage of the Reunion hotspot (underplating model). This is evidenced by the observed increase in topography away from the influence of the Reunion hotspot trace as well as the presence of a similar topography in Madagascar.