Abstract
The first systematic rock sampling of volcanoes along the Galapagos hotspot tracks (the aseismic Cocos, Carnegie, Malpelo and Coiba ridges and adjacent seamounts) in the area between the Galapagos Islands and Central and South America was carried out on R/V Sonne cruise 144-3. Guyot-shaped seamounts, paleo-beach or intertidal wave-cut platform deposits, the structure and texture of volcanic rocks, and low sulfur contents of fresh glasses dredged at these volcanoes imply that ocean islands existed continuously above the Galapagos hotspot for at least the past 17 million years. These new data significantly extend the time period over which the unique endemic Galapagos fauna could have evolved, providing a complete solution to the long-standing enigma of the evolution of Galapagos land and marine iguanas.
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