What is Bengal Fan?
The '''Bengal Fan''', also known as the '''Ganges Fan''', is the largest [[submarine fan]] on [[Earth]]. The fan is about 3,000 km (1,900 mi) long, 1,430 km (890 mi) wide. It has a maximum thickness of 16.5 km (10.3 mi).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shanmugam|first=G.|date=2016|title=Submarine fans: A critical retrospective (1950–2015)|url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2095383616000146|journal=Journal of Palaeogeography|language=en|volume=5|issue=2|pages=110–184|doi=10.1016/j.jop.2015.08.011|bibcode=2016JPalG...5..110S|via=}}</ref> The fan was formed by the [[erosion]] of the [[Himalayas]] and the [[Tibetan Plateau]]. This happened because of the [[collision]] between the [[Indian Plate]] and the [[Eurasian plate|Eurasian Plate]]. Most of the sediment in the fan comes from the [[Ganges]] and [[Brahmaputra River|Brahmaputra rivers]] which supply the [[Lower Meghna delta]] in [[Bangladesh]] and the [[Hoogly delta]] in [[India]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Curray|first1=Joseph R|last2=Emmel|first2=Frans J|last3=Moore|first3=David G|date=2002|title=The Bengal Fan: morphology, geometry, stratigraphy, history and processes|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0264817203000357|journal=Marine and Petroleum Geology|language=en|volume=19|issue=10|pages=1191–1223|doi=10.1016/S0264-8172(03)00035-7|via=}}</ref> The oldest sediments gotten from the Bengal fan are from Early [[Miocene]] age.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/116_IR/116TOC.HTM|title=Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 116 Initial Reports|last=|first=|date=1989|publisher=Ocean Drilling Program|isbn=|editor-last=Cochran|editor-first=J.R.|volume=116|location=|pages=|language=en|doi=10.2973/odp.proc.ir.116.1989|editor-last2=Stow|editor-first2=D.A.V.}}</ref> The fan was first discovered by [[bathymetric survey]] in the sixties by Bruce C. Heezen and Marie Tharp which identified the abyssal cone and canyon structures. It was named by Joseph Curray and David Moore in 1968. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Geography-stu