A craton is an ancient part of the Earth's continental crust which has been more or less stable since

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

times. Cratons whose ancient rocks are widely exposed at the surface, often with relatively subdued relief, are known as shields. If the ancient rocks are largely overlain by a cover of younger rocks then the 'hidden' craton may be referred to as a platform.

List of shields

Western Ethiopian Shield The Western Ethiopian Shield is a small geological shield along the western border of Ethiopia. Its plutons were formed between 830 and 540 million years ago. See also *Craton *Platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platfo ...

Amazonian Shield The Amazonian Craton is a geologic province located in South America. It occupies a large portion of the central, north and eastern part of the continent and represents one of Earth's largest cratonic regions. The Guiana Shield and Central Brazi ...

of central South America ** Guiana Shield **Guaporé or Central Brazilian Shield * The Angaran Shield of West Siberia *

Arabian-Nubian Shield The Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) is an exposure of Precambrian crystalline rocks on the flanks of the Red Sea. The crystalline rocks are mostly Neoproterozoic in age. Geographically - and from north to south - the ANS includes parts of Israel, Jo ...

* (Western) Australian Shield *

Baltic Shield The Baltic Shield (or Fennoscandian Shield) is a segment of the Earth's crust belonging to the East European Craton, representing a large part of Fennoscandia, northwestern Russia and the northern Baltic Sea. It is composed mostly of Archean and ...

of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe *

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

a.k.a. Laurentian Shield *The China-Korean Shield containing the North China Craton *The East Antarctic Shield containing the

East Antarctic Craton The East Antarctic Shield or Craton is a cratonic rock body that covers 10.2 million square kilometers or roughly 73% of the continent of Antarctica. The shield is almost entirely buried by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet that has an average thicknes ...

* Indian Shield * Man Shield

List of named cratons

Listed by modern continent and

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

, include:

West Gondwana

South America

* Amazonian Craton ** Guiana Shield **Amazonian Shield *

Sao Francisco Craton SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U. ...

(Congo Craton) * Rio Apa Craton * Río de la Plata Craton *

Arequipa–Antofalla Craton Arequipa-Antofalla is a basement unit underlying the central Andes in northwestern Argentina, western Bolivia, northern Chile and southern Peru. Geologically, it corresponds to a craton, terrane or block of continental crust. Arequipa-Antofalla ...

*São Luís cratonic fragment *Luís Alves cratonic fragment

Africa

* West African Craton *

East Saharan Meta-craton The Saharan Metacraton is a term used by some geologists to describe a large area of continental crust in the north-central part of Africa. Whereas a craton is an old and stable part of the lithosphere, the term "metacraton" is used to describe a ...

* Congo Craton, central southern Africa **

Bangweulu Block The Bangweulu Block is a cratonic unit that forms part of the Congo craton of central Africa. The Bangweulu Block however consists of Palaeoproterozoic granitoids and volcanics, and is overlain by a Palaeoproterozoic continental sedimentary succes ...

, Zambia *

Tanzanian Craton The Tanzania Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere in central Tanzania. Some of the rocks are over 3 billion years old. Setting The Tanzania Craton forms the highest part of the East African Plateau. The craton is surr ...

* Kalahari Craton ** Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa (3.6–2.5 Ga) ** Zimbabwe Craton (3.5 Ga) ***Sebakwe Craton

Antarctic-East African Orogen

* Arabian plate **Part of the Arabian–Nubian Shield *

*Eastern Ethiopian Shield (part of the Somali Plate) **Part of Madagascar

East Gondwana

Indian Subcontinent

* Indian Craton **

Aravalli Craton India is situated north of the equator between 8°4' north (the mainland) to 37°6' north latitude and 68°7' east to 97°25' east longitude. India Yearbook, p. 1 It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total area of . Total a ...

, India **

Bundelkand Craton India is situated north of the equator between 8°4' north (the mainland) to 37°6' north latitude and 68°7' east to 97°25' east longitude. India Yearbook, p. 1 It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total area of . Total a ...

, India **

Dharwar Craton The Dharwar Craton is an Archean continental crust craton formed between 3.6-2.5 billion years ago ( Ga), which is located in southern India and considered as the oldest part of the Indian peninsula. Studies in the 2010s suggest that the craton c ...

, India (3.4–2.6 Ga) **

Singhbhum Craton India is situated north of the equator between 8°4' north (the mainland) to 37°6' north latitude and 68°7' east to 97°25' east longitude. India Yearbook, p. 1 It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total area of . Total a ...

, India **

Bastar Craton India is situated north of the equator between 8°4' north (the mainland) to 37°6' north latitude and 68°7' east to 97°25' east longitude. India Yearbook, p. 1 It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total area of . Total a ...

, India

Antarctica

Australia

* Altjawarra Craton *

Central Craton Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center (disambiguation), center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa ...

* Curnamona Craton, South Australia * Gawler Craton, central South Australia * Pilbara Craton, Western Australia * Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia (4.4 Ga)

North America

(or Laurentian Shield) * Churchill Craton *

Hearne Craton The Hearne Craton is a craton in northern Canada which, together with the Rae Craton, forms the Western Churchill Province. Hearne is one of the six Archaean cratons of the Canadian Shield (the other being Slave, Rae, Wyoming, Superior, Na ...

* Nain Craton (part of

North Atlantic Craton The North Atlantic Craton (NAC) is an Archaean craton exposed in southern West Greenland, the Nain Province in Labrador, and the Lewisian complex in northwestern Scotland. The NAC is bounded by the Nagssugtoqidian orogen to the north and the 1.8 ...

) * North American Craton (Laurentia) * Rae Craton *

Sask Craton Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Da ...

Sclavia Craton The Sclavia Craton is a late Archean supercraton thought to be parental to the Slave and Wyoming Cratons in North America, the Dharwar Craton in southern India, and the Zimbabwe Craton in southern Africa. Sclavia was proposed by who estimated ...

* Slave Craton,

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, Canada (4.03–3.5 Ga) *

Superior Craton The Superior Craton is a stable crustal block covering Quebec, Ontario, and southeast Manitoba in Canada, and northern Minnesota in the United States. It is the biggest craton among those formed during the Archean period. A craton is a large part ...

, Canada and northern United States (3.7–2.7 Ga) * Wyoming Craton

Eurasia

Eastern Eurasia

* East China Craton * North China Craton (sometimes called Sino-Korean Craton), (2.5 Ga) *

South China Craton The South China Craton or South China Block is one of the Precambrian continental blocks in China. It is traditionally divided into the Yangtze Plate, Yangtze Block in the NW and the Cathaysia, Cathaysia Block in the SE. The Jiangshan–Shaoxing F ...

(also known as

Yangtze Craton The South China Craton or South China Block is one of the Precambrian continental blocks in China. It is traditionally divided into the Yangtze Plate, Yangtze Block in the NW and the Cathaysia, Cathaysia Block in the SE. The Jiangshan–Shaoxing F ...

) * Siberian Craton, sometimes called Angara Craton. **

Aldan Shield Aldan Shield (russian: Алданский щит) is a shield in Siberia. It is an exposed basement of the Siberian Craton. Together with the Anabar Shield further to the northwest, the Aldan Shield is one of the main features of the craton. T ...

** Anabar Shield *Tarim Craton, China

Northern and Eastern Europe

* East European Craton, the core of Baltica ** Volgo- Uralian Craton, Russia (3.0–2.7 Ga) **

, part of the East European Craton; Fennoscandian Shield, the exposed Northwestern part of the Baltic Shield in Norway, Sweden and Finland (3.1 Ga) ***Karelian Craton, part of the Fennoscandian Shield in Southeast Finland and

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

Russia, (3.4 Ga) ***Kola Craton, part of the Fennoscandian Shield, Kola Peninsula, Northwest Russia ***Belomorian Craton, part of the Fennoscandian Shield, between the Karelian and Kola cratons **

Sarmatian Craton The Sarmatian Craton or Sarmatia is the southern segment/region of the East European Craton or Baltica, also known as Scythian Plateau. The craton contains Archaean rocks 2.8 to 3.7 billion years old (Ga). During the Carboniferous the craton was ...

(3.7–2.8 Ga) *** Ukrainian Shield * Midlands Microcraton of England and Wales *

References

*{{Cite journal , title=Late Neoproterozoic rise and fall of the northern Arabian–Nubian shield: The role of lithospheric mantle delamination and subsequent thermal subsidence , author=Dov Avigad and Zohar Gvirtzman , doi=10.1016/j.tecto.2009.04.018 , year=2009 , journal=Tectonophysics , url=http://earth.huji.ac.il/data/pics/AvigadGvirtzman.pdf , volume=477 , issue=3–4 , pages=217–228 , bibcode=2009Tectp.477..217A , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409154457/http://earth.huji.ac.il/data/pics/AvigadGvirtzman.pdf , archivedate=2011-04-09 * * Shields and cratons fr:Craton