Abstract
Here we report preliminary palaeomagnetic evidence from dolerite dykes on West Falkland which suggests that the Falkland Islands were rotated through ∼120° during the early stages of the break-up and dispersal of the southern part of Gondwanaland. The rotation itself, and evidence of palaeolatitude, confirm the proposal made by Adie1 in 1952 that the islands were formerly situated adjacent to the Transkei area of South Africa, where they formed the south-east corner of the Karoo basin with its adjoining Palaeozoic fold belts. The first stage of continental drift probably took place during the Jurassic, as Antarctica separated from southern Africa, the islands moving as a microplate to a position approximately 500 km south-east of present-day Cape Town. Subsequently, during the opening of the South Atlantic, the islands and the Falklands Plateau have drifted to their present position and undergone a further rotation of ∼60°.
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Mitchell, C., Taylor, G., Cox, K. et al. Are the Falkland Islands a rotated microplate?. Nature 319, 131–134 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/319131a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/319131a0
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