Keynote 2: Cretaceous Plate Restoration, Palaeo-geography, and Salt Deposition in the South Atlantic

The South Atlantic was restored in GIS using Moulin et al (2010) rotation poles to various pre-, syn-, and post rift palaeo-geographies. Particular attention was paid to pre-rift tectonic piercing point structures that could be correlated from Africa to South America as a test of the veracity of the restorations. Adjustments were made to the restorations to ensure a better alignment of the piecing points. Then, the appropriate tectonic, stratigraphic, topographic, and geomorphological data were plotted on the restored maps to create palaeo-geographies in a series of time slices that track the development of the salt basins.