The “Panvel Flexure” along the Western Indian continental margin: an extensional fault structure related to Deccan magmatism

Abstract On the basis of field observations aided by remote sensing data a new model for the Western Indian “Panvel Flexure” is proposed. The model involves normal motion on east-dipping faults and westward tilting of fault blocks. The “flexuring” occurred by attenuation and foundering of continental crust due to crustal thinning and loading by a dyke-swarm, following a period of massive magmatic discharge accompanying the continental break-up and opening of Indian Ocean during early Tertiary times.