Abstract
There have been four distinct episodes of alkaline volcanism in southern Africa since the opening of the proto-Atlantic some 127 m.y. ago (early Cretaceous, Turonian, late Cretaceous and Oligocene). Each volcanic episode is closely related in time to breaks in the offshore sedimentary record that apparently reflect major marine regressions. Available evidence suggests that these regressions are associated with marginal upwarping of the sub-continent and it is proposed that such upwarping causes stresses in the lower lithosphere which are responsible for “triggering” alkaline volcanism.
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