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Seafloor spreading theory and the odyssey of the green turtle

Abstract

Seafloor spreading theory seems to explain why the ancestors of a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) subpopulation which now travels 2,000 km from Brazil to breed at Ascension Island, were induced to swim oceanwards for increasing distances during the gradual separation of South America and Africa in the earliest Tertiary.

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Carr, A., Coleman, P. Seafloor spreading theory and the odyssey of the green turtle. Nature 249, 128–130 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/249128a0

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