Madagascar plate

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The Madagascar plate or Madagascar block is a tectonic plate holding the island of Madagascar. It was once attached to the Gondwana supercontinent and later the Indo-Australian plate. Rifting in the Somali Basin began at the end of the Carboniferous 300 million years ago, as a part of the Karoo rift system. The initiation of the Gondwana breakup, and transform faulting along the Davie Fracture Zone, occurred in the Toarcian (about 182 million years ago) following the eruption of the Bouvet (Karoo) mantle plume. At this time, East Gondwana comprising the Antarctic, Madagascar, Indian, and Australian plates, began to separate from the African plate. East Gondwana then began to break apart about 115–120 million years ago when India began to move northward. Between 84 and 95 million years ago rifting separated Seychelles and India from Madagascar. Since its formation, the Madagascar block has moved roughly in conjunction with Africa, and thus there are questions as to whether the Madagascar plate should be still considered a separate plate.