Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean
ABSTRACT The position of the Falkland Islands adjacent to the South American continental margin belies the close association of their geology with that of South Africa. A Mesoproterozoic basement is unconformably overlain by a Silurian to Devonian succession of fluvial to neritic and shallow marine,...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691016000049 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691016000049 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s1755691016000049 2024-06-23T07:56:47+00:00 Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean Stone, Philip 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691016000049 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691016000049 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh volume 106, issue 2, page 115-143 ISSN 1755-6910 1755-6929 journal-article 2015 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755691016000049 2024-06-12T04:04:25Z ABSTRACT The position of the Falkland Islands adjacent to the South American continental margin belies the close association of their geology with that of South Africa. A Mesoproterozoic basement is unconformably overlain by a Silurian to Devonian succession of fluvial to neritic and shallow marine, siliciclastic strata. This is disconformably succeeded by a largely Permian succession that, near its base, includes a glacigenic diamictite and, thence, passes upwards into a succession of deltaic and lacustrine strata. The lithological succession and the character of its deformation bear striking similarities to the Cape Fold Belt and Karoo retroarc foreland basin. Swarms of Early Jurassic dykes were coeval with the Karoo magmatism and the initial break-up of Gondwana; Early Cretaceous dykes were intruded during the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. Offshore sedimentary basins surrounding the archipelago contain Late Jurassic to Palaeogene successions and are currently the focus of hydrocarbon exploration. Best known is the North Falkland Basin, a classic failed rift. To the SE, the passive margin, Falkland Plateau Basin may also be rift-controlled, whilst the South Falkland Basin is a foreland basin created at the boundary of the South American and Scotia plates. The role of the Falkland Islands during the breakup of Gondwana remains controversial. Compelling evidence from the onshore geology favours rotation of an independent microplate from an original position adjacent to the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Alternative interpretations, justified largely from offshore geology, favour extension of the Falkland Plateau as a fixed promontory from the South American margin. Article in Journal/Newspaper South Atlantic Ocean Cambridge University Press Falkland Plateau ENVELOPE(-50.000,-50.000,-51.000,-51.000) Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 106 2 115 143 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT The position of the Falkland Islands adjacent to the South American continental margin belies the close association of their geology with that of South Africa. A Mesoproterozoic basement is unconformably overlain by a Silurian to Devonian succession of fluvial to neritic and shallow marine, siliciclastic strata. This is disconformably succeeded by a largely Permian succession that, near its base, includes a glacigenic diamictite and, thence, passes upwards into a succession of deltaic and lacustrine strata. The lithological succession and the character of its deformation bear striking similarities to the Cape Fold Belt and Karoo retroarc foreland basin. Swarms of Early Jurassic dykes were coeval with the Karoo magmatism and the initial break-up of Gondwana; Early Cretaceous dykes were intruded during the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean. Offshore sedimentary basins surrounding the archipelago contain Late Jurassic to Palaeogene successions and are currently the focus of hydrocarbon exploration. Best known is the North Falkland Basin, a classic failed rift. To the SE, the passive margin, Falkland Plateau Basin may also be rift-controlled, whilst the South Falkland Basin is a foreland basin created at the boundary of the South American and Scotia plates. The role of the Falkland Islands during the breakup of Gondwana remains controversial. Compelling evidence from the onshore geology favours rotation of an independent microplate from an original position adjacent to the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Alternative interpretations, justified largely from offshore geology, favour extension of the Falkland Plateau as a fixed promontory from the South American margin. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stone, Philip |
spellingShingle |
Stone, Philip Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean |
author_facet |
Stone, Philip |
author_sort |
Stone, Philip |
title |
Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean |
title_short |
Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean |
title_full |
Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geology reviewed for the Falkland Islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, South Atlantic Ocean |
title_sort |
geology reviewed for the falkland islands and their offshore sedimentary basins, south atlantic ocean |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1755691016000049 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1755691016000049 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-50.000,-50.000,-51.000,-51.000) |
geographic |
Falkland Plateau |
geographic_facet |
Falkland Plateau |
genre |
South Atlantic Ocean |
genre_facet |
South Atlantic Ocean |
op_source |
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh volume 106, issue 2, page 115-143 ISSN 1755-6910 1755-6929 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755691016000049 |
container_title |
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh |
container_volume |
106 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
115 |
op_container_end_page |
143 |
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1802650107841085440 |