| Abstract: | An analysis of the relationship between the bathymetry and the gravity field has been carried out both in the frequency domain (admittance technique) and in the space domain over the Del Cano Rise and the Crozet Bank (southern Indian Ocean). A bathymetric map, contoured from original shipboard data and a geoid anomaly map, computed from a merged set of SEASAT and GEOS3 data were used. The inversion of admittances for water depth, crustal thickness, crustal density and elastic plate thickness shows that the isostatic response of the lithosphere supporting the Del Cano Rise differs very much from that of the one situated beneath the Crozet Bank. The Del Cano Rise appears to have been formed near the active Southwest Indian Ridge before Early Eocene and is locally supported by a thickened crust. Shallow thermal processes contribute to the present topography of the Crozet Bank, emplaced further away from the Southeast Indian Ridge on older crust. |
