Abstract
WE feel that the title and conclusions of the report by P. J. Smith1 of new palaeomagnetic data from Madagascar2 does not reflect an objective assessment of the arguments for the palaeo-position of Madagascar. In particular your correspondent considers that any geological evidence against a northerly derivation must now be considered anomalous and that the new palaeomagnetic information provides incontrovertible evidence for the movement of Madagascar from the East African coast in post-Lower Jurassic times. We would suggest that the Madagascar issue, which is critical in defining the fit of eastern and western Gondwanaland3, is far from settled and that the new ‘modern’ data must be examined and evaluated against all other evidence: geological, geophysical and geochemical.
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TARLING, D., KENT, P. The Madagascar controversy still lives. Nature 261, 304–305 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/261304a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/261304a0
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