Mesozoic to Neogene Tectonism and Evolution of Murray Ridge

Abstract

This paper is chiefly focused on Mesozoic to Neogene tectonism and evolution of marginal basins of Indian Craton in the east of Murray Ridge including Offshore Indus Basin of Pakistan, evolution of the Murray Ridge and its effect on sedimentation in the Offshore Indus Basin and movement of the Indo-Pakistani Craton in a NE, with a significant shift in the strike of the Murray Ridge in the NE. The Mesozoic to Neogene tectonism has been found important in the evolution process of the marginal basins of Indian Craton in the east of Murray Ridge. The major marginal basins in the east of Murray Ridge, with their synonymous regional structural history includes Offshore Indus and Lower Indus basins of Pakistan and Kach, Cambay, Narmada, Saurashtra and Bombay basins of India. The widespread presence of Deccan volcanics as penetrated in most of the Onshore Lower Indus Basin and the near-shore wells of the Offshore Indus Basin at the base of Tertiary witness the Late Cretaceous rifting event of the Indo-Pakistani Craton from Medagascar (Baloch, S.M. 2000/Un-published). The evolution of Murray Ridge and change in the strike of this ridge In the NE has been interpreted as an effect of Mesozoic to Neogene tectonic events of the Indo-Pakistani Craton.