Outcrop Geology

The outcrop geology is quite simple comprising granite intruded in places by basaltic dykes. This makes the Seychelles unique among mid-oceanic islands and it is this fact that attracted geoscientists to conduct geophysical investigations in the Seychelles in the late sixties.

These granites have been dated and they are Precambrian in age at 750 million years old. It is generally accepted in the scientific community that the islands are the emergent peaks of a microcontinent that once formed part of the super continent of Gondwana. The exact extent of this microcontinent is currently still unknown but there is evidence to support a southeasterly extension at least as far as the Saya de Malha Bank.