Exmouth Plateau
The Exmouth Plateau is an elongate northeast striking extensional passive margin located in the Indian Ocean roughly 3,000 meters offshore from western and northwestern Western Australia. The plateau makes up the westernmost structural unit of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, which comprises the Exmouth, Barrow, Dampier, and Beagle Sub-basins, and the Rankin Platform. The Exmouth Plateau was once a part of the northern shore of eastern of Gondwanaland until it broke away during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, leaving behind the oceanic crust of the Argo, Cuvier, and Gascoyne abyssal plains that now surround the distal margins of Exmouth Plateau. Tectonic history In the Late Jurassic, Gondwanaland begins to break apart creating Western Gondwana, which was composed of the South American and African continental land masses, and Eastern Gondwana. The Eastern Gondwanian continent was composed of Madagascar, Greater India, Antarctica, and Australia. During this period of time Australia shared its southern margin with Antarctica and the western margin (now the Exmouth Plateau) with Greater India. The formation of the Exmouth's northern margin, the Argo Abyssal Plain, was not initiated until 155 million years ago when Australia broke apart from a continental fragment of the Burma plate that's present location is argued