Reconstruction of the South Atlantic and Southwest Indian Ocean region between (a) Early Cretaceous (chron M0) and (b) Late Cretaceous (chron 34). Bold lines represent spreading centres at chrons M0 and 34 (from Müller . 1997). Dashed lines indicate transform boundaries. Note that the two South Atlantic spreading centres between the Falkland and Agulhas Plateaus in the Late Cretaceous reconstruction correspond to a major westward ridge jump along the Falkland–Agulhas Fracture Zone (FAFZ) (Hartnady & le Roex 1985). A.P. and M.P. are abbreviations for the Agulhas and Mozambique plateaus, respectively. The results presented in this paper suggest that the Agulhas Plateau must have come into existence after the Falkland Plateau drifted away from the Mozambique Ridge.