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How did continental rifting separate Africa and South America from Antarctica, India, and Madagascar?
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Jurassic Period
Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins during the late Jurassic Period. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are the locations of the interval's subduction zones.
During the Jurassic Period, the supercontinent Gondwana began to break apart due to the formation of spreading centers and oceanic rifts between its various segments.12
Approximately 180 million years ago, this process initiated the separation of the western half of Gondwana—comprising Africa and South America—from its eastern half, which included Antarctica, India, and Madagascar. This continental rifting was driven by plate tectonics, where the upwelling of mantle material at oceanic ridges created new oceanic crust, effectively pushing the lithospheric plates apart and carrying the continents with them. As these basins opened, they were characterized by the accumulation of thick flood basalts and subsequent sediment deposition.132