Mascarene Plateau

The plateau extends approximately 2,000 km (1,200 mi), from Seychelles in the north to Réunion in the south.

The Indian subcontinent was at one time next to the east coast of Seychelles, but seafloor spreading has moved the landmass to its current position, where it has collided and fused with the continent of Asia.

The northern part of the Mascarene Plateau is formed of granite, and is a fragment of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.

The basalt deposits in the Seychelles are from the Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred in the central part of the Indian subcontinent 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period.

[2] The banks and shoals of the southern part of the Mascarene plateau were once volcanic islands, much like Mauritius and Réunion, which have now sunk or eroded to below sea level or, in the case of the Cargados Carajos, to low coral islands.