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craton
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.35|Cratons of South America and Africa during the Triassic Period when the two continents were joined as part of the [[Pangea supercontinent]]
A craton is a large, ancient, and extremely stable section of Earth's crust that forms the core of continents. Cratons matter because they are the oldest and most durable parts of continents, and studying them helps scientists understand how continents formed and evolved over billions of years.
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15 sectionsContents
- Terminology
- Examples
- Structure
- Formation
- Root origin
- Repeated continental collision model
- Molten plume model
- Subducting ocean slab model
- Impact origin model
- Evidence for each model
- Erosion
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- References
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thumb|upright=1.35|Cratons of South America and Africa during the Triassic Period when the two continents were joined as part of the [[Pangea supercontinent]]
A craton ( , , or ; from "strength") is an old and stable part of continental lithosphere (the Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the lithospheric mantle). Having often survived cycles of merging and rifting of continents, cratons are generally found in the interiors of tectonic plates; the exceptions occur where geologically recent rifting events have separated cratons and created passive margins along their edges. Cratons are composed of ancient crystalline basement rocks covered by younger sedimentary rocks. They have a thick crust and deep lithospheric roots extending several hundred kilometres into Earth's mantle. In simpler terms, craton is a layer of the earths crust on that has been almost unchanged through all of history. This crust consists of shields and platforms. Shields are made of basement rock and are visible, while platforms are the portion not visible made up of sedimentary rock.