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Pacifica and New Zealand: proposed eastern elements in Gondwanaland's history

Nature volume 288, pages 659–664 (1980)Cite this article

Abstract

The origin of the sediments of the Canterbury Suite to the east of the Alpine Fault in New Zealand, cannot have derived from Marie Byrd Land before or during the breaking up of Gondwanaland. It is argued that the sediments may have derived from the lost continent of Pacifica, which is supposed to have separated from Gondwanaland in the late Palaeozoic. Such a mechanism can also account for the recurrence of similar quartzo-feldspathic sediments in California and thus of the Mesozoic dolerites and basalts in southern Africa, Antarctica and Tasmania.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Sciences and Antarctic Research Unit, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    P. J. J. Kamp

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Kamp, P. Pacifica and New Zealand: proposed eastern elements in Gondwanaland's history. Nature 288, 659–664 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/288659a0

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