🧬 The entire separation of South America from Africa traced

2024-08-06 06:00:05

Angola’s coastline reveals unexpected geological secrets. Researchers from Southern Methodist University (SMU) have unearthed rocks and fossils that tell the story of the formation of the South Atlantic Ocean, resulting from the separation of theAmerica of Sud and of theAfrica about 140 million years ago.

An SMU research team has discovered ancient rocks and fossils in Angola, tracing the separation of South America and Africa and the formation of theAtlantic Ocean Sud.

These discoveries, including fossils of now-extinct marine reptiles, provide clear evidence of a pivotal event in Earth’s history. The southern coast of Angola, where the samples were extracted, presents the most complete geological record of the separation of the continents and the opening of the South Atlantic. The rocks and fossils found range in age from 130 million to 71 million years old. SMU Distinguished Professor Louis L. Jacobs, lead author of the study published in The Geological Society, London, Special Publicationsemphasizes that this discovery offers an unprecedented insight into the opening of the South Atlantic. Before this, no land region showed so clearly the stages of this separation, often hidden under theocean or eroded.

The separation of Africa and South America, initiated about 140 million years ago, caused cracks in the Earth’s crust, releasing magma and forming new oceanic crust. Evidence of these events has been collected previously by geophysics and marine cores, but never in the same land region, making these Angolan discoveries particularly significant.

Angola provides a visualization of each phase of this geological chapter, from the initial separation to the creation of the South Atlantic Ocean. The work was carried out by an international team of paleontologists, geologists and other specialists, analyzing rock formations and fossils discovered in eight separate locations along the Angolan coast.

Since 2005, researchers have identified specific sediments that indicate the evolution of the West African coast over millions of years. Lava deposits and faults show the separation of continents, while marine sediments and fossils of marine reptiles reveal the finalization of the process of formation of the South Atlantic.

For the first time, it is possible to document the absence of an ocean, the appearance of a new ocean and the abundance of marine life, providing a complete account of the formation of the South Atlantic.

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