Subsidence and isostasy along a Sheared margin - Cauvery Basin, Eastern Continental Margin of India.

We have applied a process-oriented method to a seismo-geological section ac ross Cauvery Basin, sedimentary basin along the southern part of the Easter n Continental Margin of India (ECMI) to examine the isostatic mechanism ope rating beneath the margin. The evolution of the ECMI appears to be within a shear-rift tectonic setting, mainly driven by the difference in the relati ve motions of India and East Antarctica and the subsequent direction of spr eading and the Cauvery Basin seems to have formed in this pull-apart tecton ic setting. Shearing along the southern ECMI is modeled with gravity anomal ies and the resultant crustal configuration, through various models of isos tasy. Backstripping analysis suggests a very low Te of 3 km beneath the bas in. The shelf edge gravity anomaly reflects a strong contrast across a wren ch fault parallel to the coast inferred from gravity forward modeling, deno ting coast-parallel transform motion in the initial stages of continental s eparation prior to rotation and spreading.