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New evidence for a thin crust and magmatic underplating beneath the Cambay rift basin, Western India through modelling of EIGEN-6C4 gravity data

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Abstract

The Cambay rift basin (CRB) is an intracratonic rift in the western part of India. The basin assumes great importance in petroleum exploration owing to the presence of thick hydrocarbon bearing sedimentary rocks. Previous investigations using deep seismic soundings (DSS), gravity and heat flow data reveal that the CRB is characterised by a thin crust, high heat flow and high density lower crust. In this study, a detailed crustal structure of the basin is presented by performing a 2.5D density modelling of the EIGEN-6C4 gravity data. Present study attempt to find a plausible explanation for the variation in the Bouguer anomaly (BA) values from +20 to −50 mGal within the basin. It refined the crustal model that is constrained using results from radial average power spectrum (RAPS) analysis of gravity data along with previous seismological and geophysical studies, which reveals that the values of average sedimentary and Deccan Traps thickness are in the order of 4–5 and 1.5–3 km, respectively, along the rift. It also presents possible evidences for a high density underplated layer of thickness 7–15 km along the central part of the CRB. To study the deep-seated features, upward continuation of the BA is carried out at heights of 30, 40 and 50 km. The extension of underplating layer is noticed in the present crustal model and in the upward continued BA in the western part, while it merges with the Moho in eastern part of the CRB. The Moho depths, varying from 31 to 37 km, are found to be shallower inside the CRB than the surroundings. It is inferred that the high BA values in the basin are due to the combined effect of the high density underplated layer in the lower crust and a shallow Moho.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Editor and Reviewer for the constructive comments that greatly improved the manuscript. Authors are thankful to Dr M Ravi Kumar, Director General, ISR for his suggestions that have resulted in significant improvement in the manuscript. AKC thanks Dr A P Singh, Chief Scientist, CSIR–NGRI for his help regarding the gravity modelling. The authors also thank Prof Saibal Gupta, IIT Kharagpur, for his constructive suggestions during preparation of the manuscript. International Centre for Global Earth Models (ICGEM) is gratefully acknowledged for making the EIGEN-6C4 gravity data available to the users.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar, 382 009, India

    Avinash Kumar Chouhan & Pallabee Choudhury

  2. Department of Applied Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, 826 004, India

    Avinash Kumar Chouhan & Sanjit Kumar Pal

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  1. Avinash Kumar Chouhan
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Correspondence to Avinash Kumar Chouhan.

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Communicated by N V Chalapathi Rao

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Chouhan, A.K., Choudhury, P. & Pal, S.K. New evidence for a thin crust and magmatic underplating beneath the Cambay rift basin, Western India through modelling of EIGEN-6C4 gravity data. J Earth Syst Sci 129, 64 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1335-y

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