Geochronology of basalts from the ninetyeast ridge and continental dispersion in the eastern Indian Ocean

Conventional K-Ar and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar total-fusion and incremental-heating ages from basalts recovered from the Ninetyeast Ridge confirm earlier indication from paleontology of basal sediments that basement crystallization ages increase systematically from south to north. A rate of migration of volcanism of 9.4 ± 0.3 cm/yr best fits the age-distance relationship determined from these basalts. The geometry, distribution of ages, paleomagnetism and geochemistry are most compatible with an origin of the Ninetyeast Ridge by northward movement of the Indian plate over a hotspot near Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean, from mid-Cretaceous to Early Oligocene time. The Ninetyeast Ridge and nearly parallel Chagos-Laccadive Ridge provide an absolute frame of reference for the reconstruction of the eastern Indian Ocean.