Geology

The rocks and fossils of the Falkland Islands tell a fascinating story stretching back one billion years.

The land mass of the Falkland Islands is believed to have originated from the giant continent of Gondwanaland over 230 million years ago. Evidence from the composition of Falklands rocks shows that the Islands were once on the east coast of what we know today as South Africa. They were subsequently caught up in the rotation of Antarctica, breaking away from Africa, turning and moving to lie alongside South America. The oldest rocks in the Falklands, just under a billion years old, are found in the southernmost part of West Falkland.

Travelling by air around the Islands on a clear day is the best way to view one of the most spectacular features of the Falklands, the stone runs. These are literally "rivers of rock", large spreads of boulders and sometimes a "striped" effect produced by lines of boulders separated by natural vegetation. The smallest stone runs are just a metre in width with the largest, Princess Street, hundreds of metres wide and up to four kilometres long. This is the largest feature of this kind in the World. The stones themselves are quartzite blocks and, amongst the vegetation, walkers may find the rare endemic plant, the snake plant.

Fossil hunters will be keen to learn that brachiopods, trilobites and crinoids have been collected in the Falkland Islands. Examples are on display in the natural history room at the Falkland Islands Museum.

Recommended Reading suggests a number of publications which detail various aspects of the geology of the Islands.