ORIGIN AND COMPENSATION OF CHAGOS LACCADIVE RIDGE, INDIAN-OCEAN, FROM ADMITTANCE ANALYSIS OF GRAVITY AND BATHYMETRY DATA

The Chagos-Laccadive ridge (CLR) is a prominent aseismic, volcanic ridge in the northern Indian ocean. The ridge, together with the Southern Mascarene plateau (SMP), to which it is genetically related, is considered as a volcanic trace of the Reunion hotspot. We have examined the isostatic compensation of the CLR through transfer function analysis of gravity and bathymetry data along seven profiles. The analysis suggests that the CLR is compensated locally, with an Airy crustal thickness (T(c)) of 20 km. The rather low elastic plate thickness (T(e)) of about 4 km implies that the volcanism of the ridge took place very near a spreading centre. The proximity of the Chagos fracture zone indicates that the emplacement was probably near a spreading centre-transform junction.