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Abstract

The oldest ages of rocks on the world's islands are summarized (Oligocene or
older) based on published literature. All the oceans and perhaps all the seas contain
a few continental islands, indicative of debris left from continental rifting
prior to ocean basin formation by seafloor spreading. The Musicians Seamounts and the
Hawaiian Ridge (both Cretaceous), and the Tuamotu Islands (Eocene) are the same age as
the surrounding seafloor and probably formed at the crest of the East Pacific Rise.
Future drilling and dredging operations are expected to modify and add to this list,
as recent volcanism may well have obscured the much older basement rocks on many
islands. Thus, the faunas of the Galapagos, Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Tristan da
Cunha suggest they are continental islands, while their known surface geology yields
dates of only 8 m.y. or less.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Shields, O
Keywords:	Royal Society of Tasmania, RST, Van Diemens Land, natural history, science, ecology, taxonomy, botany, zoology, geology, geography, papers & proceedings, Australia, UTAS Library
Journal or Publication Title:	Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
ISSN:	0080-4703
Collections:	Royal Society Collection > Papers & Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
Additional Information:	Copyright Royal Society of Tasmania
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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