Daniel Aslanian, Romain Pellen, Marina Rabineau, Maryline Moulin, Estelle Leroux, Eva Thicot, Antoine Delaunay, Guillaume Baby, Simon Courgeon, Bastien Linol, Jean-Pierre Suc, Speranta-Maria Popescu, Séverine Fauquette, Paul P A Mazza, Sébastien Couette, Massimiliano Delpero, Thierry Huck, Pierrick Penven, Théo Le Hir, Yurui Zhang
Insular faunas and fossil assemblages result from a complex interaction of geodynamical (geological, climatic, and eustatic) and biological, taphonomic, and historical processes. The debate should not be framed as a contest between biology and geodynamics but rather as an effort to reconcile the two. Geodynamic reconstructions must remain independent of biological assumptions, yet they must also be consistent with biological evidence. If faunal dispersal patterns appear to contradict existing geological models to the extent that they require improbable explanations, then the fault likely lies in the geological reconstructions, which should be revisited. We present here how recent geophysical and geological data completely reshape our view of the geodynamic evolution of the Mozambique Channel and provide geodynamic and paleo-biogeographical coherence, leading to more robust and coherent reconstructions of Earth's past.