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The tectonic evolution and the nature of the Greater Maldive Ridge have been traced by a group of researchers from the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism which is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology. 

About the study:

• The important geodynamic features in the western Indian Ocean have been a part of several scientific debates. 
• The Maldive ridge is an aseismic ridge that is not involved with earthquake activities. 
• The ridge is located in the western Indian Ocean, southwest of India.
• This was for the first time that a study was carried out by a group of Indian researchers in the region.
• The Greater Maldive Ridge was mapped using high-resolution satellite driven gravity data.
• It has been postulated that the Maldive Ridge might have been subducted by an oceanic crust. 
• The study systematically mapped the depth to the boundary between the earth’s crust and the mantle which demarcates a discontinuity known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity. 
• It was observed that the Moho discontinuity is deeper over the Maldive Ridge segment and shallows southwards in the Deep Sea Channel region. 
• The effective elastic thickness (a determining factor for the strength of the Lithosphere), denoted as Te, was lower in the Maldive Ridge compared to the Deep Sea Channel Region.