Palaeomagnetic measurements on rocks from Mt Crean to determine the continental drift of gondwanaland

Palaeomagnetic measurements on these rocks provide information on the continental drift of Gondwanaland and the geological history can be inferred. Past dating of Antarctic rocks finds a single pole, for a time 160 million years ago in the Jurassic period corresponding to a massive intrusion of dolerite sills into the Beacon sediments.

Heat and fluid from these intrusions largely destroyed the primary magnetisation acquired by rocks older than them. Rock samples from the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic rock collections were remeasured using newly developed techniques. Some rock samples were found to retain some primary magnetisation.