ИСТИНА

The Mozambique Ridge is located in the southwestern Indian Ocean between two Mesozoic ocean basins: the Natal Basin and the Mozambique Basin. The Mozambique ridge is formed from several bathymetric plateaus rising to 3500 m from the seabed. It is believed that the origin of the ridge is associated with its partial separation from the outskirts of the African continent due to the activities of the Karoo hotspot. Recent studies show that the northeastern part of the ridge is thinned continental crust covered with sediments, and the southern part is characterized by a large number of extrusion centers indicating increased igneous activity. Experimental studies described in this work showed that the formation of the Mozambique ridge occurred in the context of the destruction of the Afro-Antarctic continent with structural heterogeneities in the lithosphere of the African continent and the influence of the Karoo hotspot. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. № 22-27-00110).