The geodynamic setting of the Phanerozoic basins of Africa

During the Phanerozoic, Africa (and Gondwana) migrated across the South Pole northwards to its present latitude, and the fill of preserved basins reflects a concomitant change in paleoclimate. Rises in sea level, in part related to the demise of Gondwanan glaciers during the Paleozoic, locally flooded the African plate. The rich fossil record of life on the African plate during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic can also be coupled with a more benevolent climate at lower latitudes as Gondwana passed away from south polar regions. The presence of plumes beneath the African plate during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (the Karoo and Afar plumes, respectively), coupled with an absence of slab pull at the margins of the young post-Gondwana oceanic crust, has rendered Africa in a relatively stationary position since the Mesozoic, with only a slow rotation of the plate as the Central and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Red Sea have opened.