Re-examination of geophysical data off Northwest India: Implications to the Late Cretaceous plate tectonics between India and Africa

Plate reconstruction models generated in this study accommodate several microplates between Madagascar and India, and trace their movements over time within the India-Africa spreading corridor. Furthermore, these models suggest the formation of the Seychelles-Laxmi Ridge microplate by 79 Ma in a complex three plate system. This microplate may have existed up to 64.1 Ma and experienced an anticlockwise rotation of about 50°. Under the influence of the Deccan hotspot activity, the Laxmi Basin spreading ridge jumped southwestward splitting the Seychelles-Laxmi Ridge complex and initiating the Carlsberg Ridge. The presence of about 160 km of oceanic crust in the Gop and Laxmi Basins partially reduces the space problem faced in the earlier plate reconstruction models.