Geology of Seychelles

The geology of Seychelles is an example of a felsic granite microcontinent that broke off from the supercontinent Gondwana within the past 145 million years and become isolated in the Indian Ocean.

The rifting process stalled and then continued in the Triassic until the Middle Jurassic as between two and six kilometers of[1] clastic sediments accumulated on the western margin of the Seychelles microcontinent.

Along the passive northwest margin with Gondwana, the coastline was submerged and one kilometer of fine sediments deposited there as the Somali oceanic basin formed.

The Deccan Traps hotspot, which poured out immense basalt flows in India 65 million years ago and ultimately formed islands such as Mauritius and Réunion, isolated Seychelles.

[4] The microcontinent was confined between northern Madagascar and western India until the Late Cretaceous and evolved during the Cenozoic through a process of rift and drift tectonics.