Ashwal, L.D.Wiedenbeck, M.Torsvik, T.H.2017-10-242017-10-242017-01Ashwal, L.D., Wiedenbeck, M. and Torsvik, T.H. 2017. Archaean zircons in Miocene oceanic hotspot rocks establish ancient continental crust beneath Mauritius. Nature Communications 8, Article number 14086.2041-1723 (Online)http://hdl.handle.net/10539/23325A fragment of continental crust has been postulated to underlie the young plume-related lavas of the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius based on the recovery of Proterozoic zircons from basaltic beach sands. Here we document the first U-Pb zircon ages recovered directly from 5.7 Ma Mauritian trachytic rocks. We identified concordant Archaean xenocrystic zircons ranging in age between 2.5 and 3.0 Ga within a trachyte plug that crosscuts Older Series plume-related basalts of Mauritius. Our results demonstrate the existence of ancient continental crust beneath Mauritius; based on the entire spectrum of U-Pb ages for old Mauritian zircons, we demonstrate that this ancient crust is of central-east Madagascar affinity, which is presently located ∼700 km west of Mauritius. This makes possible a detailed reconstruction of Mauritius and other Mauritian continental fragments, which once formed part of the ancient nucleus of Madagascar and southern India.en© 2017. The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.ArcheanContinental crustMantle plumeMioceneReconstructionTrachyteUranium-lead datingVolcanic rockZirconBasaltChildIndiaMadagascarMauritiusPlumeMascarene IslandsArticle