Note on the palaeomagnetism of the Sekondi series,Ghana

From a collection of 39 oriented hand-samples at 16 sites, total N.R.M. directions at 12 sites from the Elmina Sandstone (Devonian or possibly Carboniferous) of the Ghana coast fall in a group. Their in-situ mean (D = 334°, $\text{I = +11}\text{1}\text{2}\text{°}$) is significantly divergent from the local geomagnetic field, and does not correlate with expected Palaeozoic remanence directions. A bedding-tilt test suggests that the magnetisation is secondary, and comparison with other African data suggests a Mesozoic (possibly Cretaceous) age. The remanence is only partially stable against thermal demagnetisation. The observations are consistent with a remanence originating at the time of faulting, tilting and uplift which marked the beginning of rifting of South America from Africa.