Evidence of continental crust in Laxmi Basin (Arabian Sea) using wavelet analysis

Abstract

The spectral analysis of bathymetry along 17°12'N latitude between the longitude ~60°E and 73°E has been done using wavelet transform. The profile covers all the major features of the region including Western Basin, Laxmi Ridge, Laxmi Basin, Panikkar Ridge, continental slope and continental shelf. The wavelet coefficients at different scales a = 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 showed that the signatures are different on the left and right regions of the Laxmi Ridge. On the basis of these signatures, the profile has been divided into different sections and wavelet variance analysis for these sections has been done. The calculated exponent β has the value ~2.0771 for whole data set and ~1.9367, 2.838, 2.9911 and 2.8750 corresponding to Western Basin, Laxmi Basin, region from Laxmi Basin up to continental shelf and region covering continental slope and continental shelf respectively. The fractal dimension corresponding to these values are 1.53, 1.1, 1.0 and 1.06 respectively. The values of β and fractal dimension show that the spectral behaviour of crust of Laxmi Basin is near to continental shelf and slope, which indicates the nature of crust of Laxmi Basin as continental.