the kerguelen plateaus started to form about 130 million years ago.
the kerguelen plateaus started to form about 130 million years ago.
when did the kerguelen plateaus start to form?
about 130 million years ago
the plateau was produced by the kerguelen hotspot, starting with or following the breakup of gondwana about 130 million years ago. a small portion of the plateau breaks sea level, forming the kerguelen islands (a french territory) plus the heard and mcdonald islands (an australian territory). intermittent volcanism continues on the heard and mcdonald islands.









































section::::geographical extent.









































symmetrically across the indian ocean ridge and due west of australia is the broken ridge underwater volcanic plateau, which at one time was contiguous with the kerguelen plateau before rifting by the mid-ocean ridge.
kerguelen plateau
the presence of soil layers in the basalt which included charcoal and conglomerate fragments of gneiss indicate that much of the plateau was above sea level as what is termed a microcontinent for three periods between 100 million years ago and 20 million years ago. (the charcoal was made by wildfires started by lightning or lava flows.) 









































large parts of the now submarine southern (skp) and central kerguelen plateaus (ckp) were subaerial during the formation of the lip. the skp probably formed an island of with major peaks reaching above sea level.
kerguelen plateau