The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region
Over long periods of time the tectonic evolution of the solid Earth has been recognized as the major control on the development of the global climate system. Tectonic activity acts in one of two different ways to influence regional and global climate: (i) through the opening and closing of oceanic gateways and its effect on the circulation patterns in the global ocean; (ii) through the growth and erosion of orogenic belts, resulting in changes in oceanic chemistry and disruption of atmospheric circulation. The Arabian Sea region has several features that make it the best area for studies of climate and palaeoceanographic responses to tectonic activity, most notably in the context of the South Asian monsoon and its relationship to the growth of high topography in the adjacent Himalayas and Tibet.
The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region brings together a collection of recent studies on the area from a wide group of international contributors. The paper range from high resolution, Holocene palaeoceanographic studies of the Pakistan margin to regional tectonic reconstructions of the ocean basin and surrounding margins throughout the Cenozoic. Marine geophysics, stratigraphy, isotope chemistry and neotectonics come together in a multidisciplinary approach to the study of interactions of land and sea. while much work remains to be done to understand fully the tectonic and climatic evolution of the Arabian Sea, a great deal has been achieved since the last major review, as detailed in the 26 contributions. This volume is essential reading for palaeoceanographers, sedimentologists and geophysicists. It will also be interest to structural geologists and those working in the petroleum industry.
Basalt and peridotite recovered from Murray Ridge: are they of supra-subduction origin?
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Published:January 01, 2002
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CiteCitation
Klaus-Peter Burgath, Ulrich Von Rad, Willem Van Der Linden, Martin Block, Athar Ali Khan, Hans Albert Roeser, Wolfgang Weiss, 2002. "Basalt and peridotite recovered from Murray Ridge: are they of supra-subduction origin?", The Tectonic and Climatic Evolution of the Arabian Sea Region, P. D. Clift, D. Kroon, C. Gaedicke, J. Craig
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Abstract
Petrographic and geochemical data for new basalt and peridotite samples recovered from sampling sites at the Southern Murray Ridge help to constrain models for the evolution of the Owen-Murray Ridge system, which forms the northwestern boundary of the Indian plate. Trace elements immobile during alteration (Ti, Zr, Nb, Y and rare earth elements) suggest that the altered microphyric metabasalt has affinities to magmatism of active margins (island-arc tholeiite sensu lato). It is distinctly different from mid-ocean ridge basalt, back-arc-basin basalt, or intra-plate Deccan Trap basalt. The sampled serpentinized harzburgite or clinopyroxene-poor lherzolite was deformed under mantle conditions and is similar to the mantle section of nearby ophiolite sequences. This association of rocks suggests that an ophiolite melange was sampled. However, results from sampling station 462 NIOP indicate that the Murray Ridge complex also contains igneous rocks with Deccan Trap affinity. For the emplacement of the island-arc tholeiite we assume an origin in a convergent supra-subduction setting, related to the closing of a Late Cretaceous Neo-Tethyan ocean basin between the Arabian and Indian plates to the south and the Eurasian plate to the north. Since Neogene time, the Murray Ridge-Dalrymple Trough has been underlain by attenuated (?)continental crust and characterized by extensional rift tectonics.