Testing the Inherited Lithospheric Weakness Hypothesis Beneath the Bengal Basin: A Quantitative Test Design for Structural Control on Accommodation
- 1Department of Geography and Environment, Chittagong College
Abstract
This paper brings published evidence together into an age-neutral, falsifiable test of the Inherited Lithospheric Weakness Hypothesis (ILWH) for accommodation in the Bengal Basin. On the Stable Shelf, boreholes and mine records document Paleoproterozoic basement domains and fault-bounded Permian depocentres. Farther east and south, geophysical and stratigraphic studies constrain Cretaceous margin development and younger deformation. What is still missing is a continuous, independently dated inherited boundary linking northwestern Bangladesh to the Sylhet, Faridpur, or Hatia troughs. To address this gap, I propose four linked groups of tests: breakup kinematics, crustal and potential-field imaging, rheological predictions, and subsidence modelling. Independently mapped candidate boundaries are compared with a conventional model that includes spatially variable Cretaceous stretching, cooling, flexure, convergence, sediment loading, magmatic modification, separate lower-crustal flow and density-change alternatives, and dynamic topography. Restoration accounts for compaction, a single sediment-unloading treatment, paleowater depth, and isostatically amplified eustasy, without double counting. Spatially blocked validation across seismic, native gravity–magnetic, and well–stratigraphic data tests whether prediction genuinely improves, and constrained lineament randomizations deal with chance association and multiple testing. Inheritance counts as contributory only if a pre-existing boundary produces a geologically meaningful, spatially persistent improvement in withheld predictions with plausible parameters. A Permian contribution also needs independent evidence of syndepositional faulting, pre-Cretaceous existence, and later mechanical linkage; formative age is assessed separately. If the conventional model predicts adequately, an inherited contribution is unnecessary. If coverage, age control, or statistical power is insufficient, the question remains unresolved. (Note: Abstract updated in Version 2.)
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BibTeX
@misc{chowdhury2026testing,
title = {{Testing the Inherited Lithospheric Weakness Hypothesis Beneath the Bengal Basin: A Quantitative Test Design for Structural Control on Accommodation}},
author = {Hasan Jubair Chowdhury},
howpublished = {Zenodo},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23498275},
url = {https://zenodo.org/records/23498275},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Testing the Inherited Lithospheric Weakness Hypothesis Beneath the Bengal Basin: A Quantitative Test Design for Structural Control on Accommodation
AU - Hasan Jubair Chowdhury
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/20
PB - Zenodo
DO - 10.5281/zenodo.23498275
UR - https://zenodo.org/records/23498275
AB - This paper brings published evidence together into an age-neutral, falsifiable test of the Inherited Lithospheric Weakness Hypothesis (ILWH) for accommodation in the Bengal Basin. On the Stable Shelf, boreholes and mine records document Paleoproterozoic basement domains and fault-bounded Permian depocentres. Farther east and south, geophysical and stratigraphic studies constrain Cretaceous margin development and younger deformation. What is still missing is a continuous, independently dated inherited boundary linking northwestern Bangladesh to the Sylhet, Faridpur, or Hatia troughs. To address this gap, I propose four linked groups of tests: breakup kinematics, crustal and potential-field imaging, rheological predictions, and subsidence modelling. Independently mapped candidate boundaries are compared with a conventional model that includes spatially variable Cretaceous stretching, cooling, flexure, convergence, sediment loading, magmatic modification, separate lower-crustal flow and density-change alternatives, and dynamic topography. Restoration accounts for compaction, a single sediment-unloading treatment, paleowater depth, and isostatically amplified eustasy, without double counting. Spatially blocked validation across seismic, native gravity–magnetic, and well–stratigraphic data tests whether prediction genuinely improves, and constrained lineament randomizations deal with chance association and multiple testing. Inheritance counts as contributory only if a pre-existing boundary produces a geologically meaningful, spatially persistent improvement in withheld predictions with plausible parameters. A Permian contribution also needs independent evidence of syndepositional faulting, pre-Cretaceous existence, and later mechanical linkage; formative age is assessed separately. If the conventional model predicts adequately, an inherited contribution is unnecessary. If coverage, age control, or statistical power is insufficient, the question remains unresolved. (Note: Abstract updated in Version 2.)
ER -