The Late Palaeozoic Glaciation of Gondwanaland in Relation to West Africa and to Northern South America During Carboniferous Time

Abstract

AbstractLower Carboniferous strata are shown to be absent from the Amazon basin and Ghana, the Bermejo series of Bolivia is Permo-Triassic, the Sekondi series of Ghana does not include glacial deposits and may prove to be Devonian, early Carboniferous glaciation is unknown in Africa and restricted to Argentina in South America. In the light of these interpretations the extent to which late Carboniferous glaciation affected northern South America and Africa is briefly reviewed and shown to conflict with the reconstructions by L. C. King (1958). The non-glaciation of Africa and South America north of at least latitude 25 degrees South during early Carboniferous times is regarded as proving that these areas did not pass through the south polar region at that time. The known distribution of early and late Carboniferous glacial deposits is considered in relation to continental drift and movement can only have been westwards during the Carboniferous period.