Late Cretaceous India-Madagascar fit and timing of break-up related magmatism

A U-Pb zircon age of 91.2 +/- 0.2 Myr from western India (St. Mary islands) confidently links India with the Late Cretaceous magmatic province in Mada gascar (approximate to 84-92 Ma), and the U-Pb age is within analytical err or of the U-Pb age of the Analalava gabbro pluton (91.6 +/- 0.3 Myr) in nor theastern Madagascar. Palaeomagnetic data from India and Madagascar allow u s to postulate a new India-Madagascar fit (Euler latitude = 14.24 degrees, longitude = 38.8 and rotation angle = -69.2 degrees). This fit is applicabl e to the Late Cretaceous, directly prior to and during the early phase of M adagascar-India separation. In our Late Cretaceous reconstruction, south-we st India runs roughly subparallel with the first known break-up related mag netic anomaly (A34); it maintains a close connection between Madagascar and India, but places India slightly rotated compared to the eastern margin of Madagascar and more northerly compared with some reconstructions. St. Mary magmatism is linked to the initial break-up between India and Madagascar, and magmatism probably resulted from rift-related extensional processes ini tially induced by the Marion hotspot underlying southern Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous.