The Bengal Basin evolved as a rift-controlled extensional basin along the NNE–SSW trending Basin Margin Fault coevally with the 85 East Ridge in the Bay of Bengal during the short-lived hotspot activity south of Bhubaneswar. The basin opening post-dated the Kereguelen Plume magmatism (at ~116 Ma), but predated the phase of continental collision that triggered the rise of the Himalaya in the north. Supply of sediments in the initial stages of basin opening was from the west, mainly through the denudation and erosion of the uplifted Precambrian Shield.