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Constraining the Jurassic extent of Greater India: Tectonic evolution of the West Australian margin
Citation
Gibbons, AD and Barckhausen, U and van den Bogaard, P and Werner, R and Whittaker, J and Muller, RD, Constraining the Jurassic extent of Greater India: Tectonic evolution of the West Australian margin, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 13, (5) Article Q05W13. ISSN 1525-2027 (2012) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 American Geophysical Union
Abstract
Alternative reconstructions of the Jurassic northern extent of Greater India differ by up to several thousand
kilometers.We present a newmodel that is constrained by revised seafloor spreading anomalies, fracture zones
and crustal ages based on drillsites/dredges from all the abyssal plains along the West Australian margin and
the Wharton Basin, where an unexpected sliver of Jurassic seafloor (153 Ma) has been found embedded
in Cretaceous (95 My old) seafloor. Based on fracture zone trajectories, this NeoTethyan sliver must have
originally formed along a western extension of the spreading center that formed the Argo Abyssal Plain,
separating a western extension of West Argoland/West Burma from Greater India as a ribbon terrane.
The NeoTethyan sliver, Zenith and Wallaby plateaus moved as part of Greater India until westward ridge
jumps isolated them. Following another spreading reorganization, the Jurassic crust resumed migrating
with Greater India until it was re-attached to the Australian plate ~95 Ma. The new Wharton Basin data
and kinematic model place strong constraints on the disputed northern Jurassic extent of Greater India. Late
Jurassic seafloor spreading must have reached south to the Cuvier Abyssal Plain on the West Australian
margin, connected to a spreading ridge wrapping around northern Greater India, but this Jurassic crust is no
longer preserved there, having been entirely transferred to the conjugate plate by ridge propagations. This discovery
constrains the major portion of Greater India to have been located south of the large-offset Wallaby-
Zenith Fracture Zone, excluding much larger previously proposed shapes of Greater India.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | East Indian Ocean, Greater India, NeoTethys, West Australian margin, plate tectonics |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Geology |
| Research Field: | Marine Geoscience |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences |
| Author: | Whittaker, J (Dr Jo Whittaker) |
| ID Code: | 84432 |
| Year Published: | 2012 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 54 |
| Deposited By: | Research Division |
| Deposited On: | 2013-05-14 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-10-30 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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