Indus Fan: multi-channel seismic reflection images of channel-levee-overbank complexes

Abstract

The Indus Fan covers an area of 1.1 × 106km2 (1500 km length and 960 km maximum width) and is the most extensive physiographic feature in the Arabian Sea. The fan is developed off the passive continental margin of Pakistan-India and is bounded by the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge on the east, the Owen-Murray Ridges on the west and the Carlsberg Ridge (a portion of the Mid-Oceanic Ridge system) on the south (Fig. 17.1). The Indus River system, draining the Himalaya Mountains, has been the dominant sediment source for the fan. The drainage area of the Indus River system is 966000 km2. The sediment load of this river was 450 million tons yr-1 prior to recent upstream damming (Krishnan 1968; Lisitzin 1972).