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Science 30 April 1976:
Vol. 192. no. 4238, pp. 465 - 467
DOI: 10.1126/science.192.4238.465
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Articles

Potassium-Argon Ages from the Galápagos Islands

KIMBERLY BAILEY 1

1 U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific-Arctic Branch of Marine Geology, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025

Potassium-argon ages of eight volcanic rocks from some of the geologically oldest flows exposed in the Galápagos Archipelago indicate that the Galápagos Islands have a probable maximum age of 3 million years. Rocks from six islands were dated; the oldest are from Española (3.2 ± 0.2), Sante Fe (2.7 ± 0.1), and Plazas (4.2 ± 1.8 million years). The new data suggest that the Galápagos Islands are younger than previously supposed on the basis of marine magnetic anomaly dating, but they are older than most previously dated rocks from the Galápagos.

Submitted on November 17, 1975
Revised on January 29, 1976


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Colonization and diversification of Galapagos terrestrial fauna: a phylogenetic and biogeographical synthesis.
C. E Parent, A. Caccone, and K. Petren (2008)
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Geologic Youth of Galapagos Islands Confirmed by Marine Stratigraphy and Paleontology.
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Origin of Espanola Island and the Age of Terrestrial Life on the Galapagos Islands.
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Intense Natural Selection in a Population of Darwin's Finches (Geospizinae) in the Galapagos.
P. T. BOAG and P. R. GRANT (1981)
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