Geophysical Past

Bangladesh :
2020-Session 14

Dr. Abdul Baqee

Part-time Teacher

BANGLADESH STUDIES
Human 1103 : Bangladesh Studies
1
Geo-Physical Past 2/16

Bangladesh is a part of the BENGAL BASIN

and one of the largest geosynclines on earth.

Geographically, the Bengal Basin is a

physiographic unit, comprising the entire Himalayan
foothills
Rajmahal
lowland Hills
….. bounded by the Chhota Nagpur Plateau
and Rajmahal Hills in the west,
Monipuri-
Tripura Hills
the Himalayan foothills in the north,
Chotonagpur
Plateau
the Meghalaya Plateau in the northeast and
the Manipur-Tripura hills in the east.
Geosyncline is a term
used for a subsiding
linear strata that was
created by the
accumulation of
sedimentary rock
strata deposited in a
basin and
subsequently
compressed,
deformed, and
uplifted into a
mountain range.

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Geological Background
A river basin is the land that
water flows across or under
its way to a river, just like a
bathtub.

The River Basin is also

the land drained by a
river and its
tributaries.
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It encompasses all
the land surface
dissected and drained
by streams and creek
that flow downhill
into one another, and
eventually end up
into rivers. The final destination is, however,
to oceans.

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 6/16
Abraham Ortelius (also Ortels,
Orthellius, Wortels; 1527–1598) was
a Dutch (Netherlands) Cartographer
and Geographer.

He is also believed to be the first

person to imagine that the
continents were joined together
before drifting to their present
positions (1564).
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Recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas.
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Imagining Continental Drift
Ortelius was the first to underline the
geometrical coincidence between the coasts
of America and Europe-Africa.

Accordingly he proposed the idea of

drifting the big landmasses.
The Americas were "torn away from
Europe and Africa ... by earthquakes and
floods.”

The idea in later period was

established.
Alfred Wegener, a German Meteorologist, compiled
considerable evidence to support this idea (Continental Drift).

He introduced his idea of

Continental Drift to the
Geological Society of
Germany in January of 1912
(Continental Drift).

His idea was debated for

long 50 years.
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Wegener noted
that glacial, tropical
rain forests, and
desert deposits
were aligned when
the continents
were placed
together.

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- LAURASIA broke up to form North
America, Greenland, Europe and Asia.
- The southern part split to form the
continents of South America, Africa,
Australia and Antarctica.

- The shallow sea of Tethys lay between these two landmasses

- Gondwanaland broke up from the northern part of Pangaea
around 180 m years ago and the continental plates started
drifting.
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In the Jurassic period
between 195 & 135 m yrs
ago, the Indian portion of
Gondwanaland split off and
moved northward in the
direction of Laurasia.

India collided with the Eurasian Plate of Laurasia

in the Eocene epoch around 50 m yrs ago.
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The collision
resulted in the
uplift of the
Himalayan
mountain
range and the
Tibetan
plateau. During the Oligocene epoch (between 38 &
26 m yrs ago), part of the northeastern
Indian plate fractured and subsided below
sea level. 13/16
This subsided landmass is
gradually filled up to form the
eastern part of the Bengal Basin.
The Himalayas after being uplifted
had been continuously reduced by
erosion.

Practically the Himalayan uplift has

emerged as one of the world’s largest
sediment dispersal complex to feed
the Bengal Basin and the delta.
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The Ganges and the
Brahmaputra from the
Himalayan range and the
Meghna from the
northeastern Indo-
Burman range drain large
catchment areas and
transport huge supply of
sediments toward the
Bengal Basin.

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 16/16

The transported loads are from The Bengal Basin is a

the metamorphic, magmatic sedimentary basin
and sedimentary rocks. having sediment
thickness 16-18 kms.

The Bengal delta occupies a

large part of the Bengal Basin
extending across southwestern The delta started to
Bangladesh and adjoining evolve in the
parts of West Bengal. Quaternary epoch
(about 2 m yrs ago).
That’s all folks