Mascarene Basin

The Mascarene Basin is an oceanic basin in the western Indian Ocean. It was formed as the tectonic plate of the Indian subcontinent pulled away from the Madagascar Plate about 66–90 Mya, following the breaking up of the Gondwana supercontinent.^[1][2]

Creation of the Mascarene Basin following the break-up of Gondwanaland

The Mascarene Basin is bounded on the west by the island of Madagascar, i.e. the Precambrian Madagascar Massif. It is separated from the Western and Eastern Somali Basins to the north and northeast by the island arc from the northern tip of Madagascar, the Farquhar Islands, the Amirante Islands and Amirante Plateau, the Seychelles Plateau and the Mascarene Plateau. To the southwest and south it is separated from the Madagascar Basin by a continuation of the island arc through Mauritius Island and Reunion Island, the Mauritius Fracture Zone, a fracture zone trending approximately NE-SW, located east of Mauritius Island, and the northwestern edge of the Madagascar Ridge.^[3][4]

The approximate center of the basin is 15°S 56°E / 15°S 56°E / -15; 56.^[5]

See also

• Geology of Madagascar

Notes and references

1. Kusky, Timothy M.; Toraman, , Erkan; Raharimahefa, Tsilavo (2007). "The Great Rift Valley of Madagascar: An extension of the Africa–Somali diffusive plate boundary?". Gondwana Research. 11 (4): 577–579. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2006.11.009.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
2. Schlich, R. (1982). "The Indian Ocean: aseismic ridges, spreading centers, and oceanic basins". In Nairn, Alan E. M.; Stehli, Francis G. (eds.). The Ocean Basins and Margins (Volume 6, The Indian Ocean). Boston, Massachusetts: Springer. pp. 51–147. ISBN 978-1-4615-8040-9.
3. Schlich 1982, pp. 115–116
4. Bhattacharya, G. C.; Yatheesh, V. (2015). "PlateTectonic Evolution of the Deep Ocean Basins Adjoining the Western Continental Margin of India: A Proposed Model for the Early Opening Scenario". In Mukherjee, Soumyajit (ed.). Petroleum Geosciences: Indian Contexts. Springer. pp. 1–62. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-03119-4_1. ISBN 978-3-319-03119-4.
5. Gazetteer of Undersea Features: Names Approved by the United States Board on Geographic Names (third ed.). Washington, D.C.: Defense Mapping Agency. 1981. p. II-98.