As part of our South Atlantic Digital Atlas we are finding out new important features about the early history of the South Atlantic margins. We have made a detailed animated video of the opening of the South Atlantic in conjunction with Dr. Colin Reeves, Earthworks, Delft, Netherlands, and Dr. Alan Smith, University of Cambridge, UK.

Our latest findings include:

• The earliest marine influence in the South Atlantic is during the pre-salt sag phase in the latest Barremian (abstract Davison Bate & Reeves. 2004).

• The first marine influx was from the north and brought Tethyan ostracods and stemless crinoids of Tethyan affinity (Davison et al. 2004).

• Figure of TETHYAN OSTRACODS

• The Aptian salt basin consists of several individual sub-basins with different ages of salt. ranging from 123-124 Ma to 112-113 Ma (Davison and Jones 2005). (South Atlantic SALT BASIN diagram as .PDF )

• The last land bridge between South America and Africa was along the Romanche Fracture Zone in the Barreirinhas Ghana Basins, and not as previously believed in the Pernambuco-Niger delta area.

Matos, F.M.V., & Davison, I., 1987. Basement or Intrusion? The Ambrosio Dome, Rio Itapicuru greenstone belt, Bahia, Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 17, 442-449.

Davison, I., 1987. Relato sobre o primeiro simposio nacional de Estudos Tectonicos, 14-20 setembro, Salvador, Bahia. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 17, 699-700.

Davison, I., 1988. Comment on 'The Northeastern Brazil-Gabon Basins: a double rifting system associated with multiple crustal detachment surfaces by A.C.M. Castro Jr'. Tectonics, 7, 1385-1391.

Milani, E.J., & Davison, I., 1988. Basement control and transfer tectonics in the Reconcavo-Tucano-Jatobá Rift, Brazil. Tectonophysics, 154, 41-70.

Davison, I., Teixeira, J.B.G., Silva, M.G., Rocha Neto, M.B., & Matos, F.M.V., 1988. Rio Itapicuru Greenstone Belt, Bahia, Brazil: structure and stratigraphical outline. Precambrian Research, 42, 1-17.

Reinhardt, M.C., & Davison, I., 1989. Controle litoestrutural dos corpos auríferos da Mina Fazenda Brasileiro, Bahia, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Geociências, 19, 121-131.

Davison, I., & Santos, R.A., 1989. Tectonic Evolution of the Sergipano Fold Belt, NE Brazil, during the Brasiliano Orogeny. Precambrian Research, 45, 319-342.

Reinhardt, M.C., & Davison, I., 1990. Litho-structural control of the gold mineralization in the shear-zone hosted Early Proterozoic Fazenda Brasileiro deposit, Bahia, NE Brazil. Economic Geology, 8, 952-967.

Davison, I., 1991. Brazil's many sedimentary basins offer exploration targets. Oil and Gas Journal, August 5th, 52-56.

Magnavita, L.P., Davison, I., & Kusznir, N., 1994. Rifting, erosion and uplift in Recôncavo-Tucano-Jatobá Rift, NE Brazil. Tectonics, 13, 367-388.

Davison, I., Powell, D., McCarthy, M., Torres, H.H.F., & Santos, C.A., 1995. Laminar flow in shear zones: the Pernambuco Shear Zone, NE Brazil. Journal of Structural Geology, 17, 149-161.

Davison, I., 1997. Wide and narrow margins in the South Atlantic. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 154, 471-476.

Davison, I., 1999. Tectonics and hydrocarbon distribution along the Brazilian South Atlantic margin. In: Cameron et al., (Eds.), Oil and Gas Habitats of the South Atlantic. Special Publication of Geological Society of London. 153, 133-151.

Davison, I., 2007. Geology and tectonics of the South Atlantic Brazilian salt basins.  In: Reis, A., Butler, R.W.H., and Graham, R.H., (Eds.), Deformation of the Continental Crust: The Legacy of Mike Coward, Special Publication Geological Society London, 272, 345-359.

Davison, I., Anderson, L., & Nuttall, P., 2010.  Salt deposition, loading and gravity drainage in the Campos and Santos Salt Basins.  In: Alsop, G.I., and Archers, S., (Eds.), Salt Tectonics, Geological Society of London Special Publication, in press.

Davison, I., Anderson, L.A., Nuttall, P., & Gormely, P., 2011. Reflections on the Moho: the volcanic margin of Argentina and South Brazil. Submitted to Geology, in review.