Charles Darwin's discovery of Devonian fossils in the Falkland Islands, 1833, and its controversial consequences

Stone, Philip; Rushton, Adrian W.A.. 2024 Charles Darwin's discovery of Devonian fossils in the Falkland Islands, 1833, and its controversial consequences. In: Clary, R.M.; Pyle, E.J.; Andrews, W.M., (eds.) Geology's significant sites and their contributions to geoheritage. Geological Society of London.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP543-2022-190

Abstract/Summary

In March 1833 Charles Darwin discovered Devonian fossils in the Falkland Islands. He was excited by his find but could have had little premonition of the long-running geological controversy that he was initiating. Darwin's fossils matched a coeval South African fauna, and as further collections were made the association was apparently strengthened. A particularly important contribution arose around 1910 through collaborations between a local collector, Constance Allardyce, and professional palaeontologists: Ernest Schwarz in South Africa and John Clarke in the USA. The accumulating evidence was seized upon by the early proponents of ‘displacement theory’ - continental drift - notably Alexander Du Toit, who relocated the Falkland Islands northward for his 1927 South Atlantic reconstruction. A more radical, but geologically sounder proposal arose in 1952 when Ray Adie suggested that the Falkland Islands, rotated through 180°, had originated as the eastward culmination of the Cape Fold Belt and Karoo Basin. In effect, Adie had presciently described a rotated microplate, perhaps the first on record. An opposing view saw the Falkland Islands as part of a fixed, South American promontory, and argument around these two contrasting interpretations of South Atlantic geology continues to the present day.

Item Type:	Publication - Book Section
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1144/SP543-2022-190
ISSN:	0305-8719
Date made live:	20 Jun 2023 13:50 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/535040

Item Type:

Publication - Book Section

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1144/SP543-2022-190

ISSN:

0305-8719

Date made live:

20 Jun 2023 13:50 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/535040