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Another Gondwanaland

Abstract

THE grouping of the continents (South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica) into a single continent (Gondwanaland) is now widely accepted for most of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times, but there is still disagreement on the way in which the continents bordering the Indian Ocean fit into this picture. The most durable reconstruction has been that of du Toit1, which was based on detailed geological information from many areas, and is similar to the geometric fit2,3; this is generally consistent with palaeomagnetic data4,5. It is, however, necessary to attribute the scatter of palaeomagnetic poles in Permo–Triassic times to significant multipole components, in addition to a predominantly axial geocentric dipole, when using this reconstruction6. I have pointed out7 that the positioning of Madagascar is critical in most postulated reconstructions of eastern Gondwanaland and that there is some evidence against the northerly derivation required for the Smith and Hallam2 and du Toit1 reconstructions.

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TARLING, D. Another Gondwanaland. Nature 238, 92–93 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/238092a0

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