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.[1] A craton is a large part of the Earth's crust that has been stable and subjected to very little geological changes over a long time.[2] The size of Superior Craton is about 1,572,000 km2.[3] The craton underwent a series of events from 4.3 to 2.57 Ga. These events included the growth, drifting and deformation of both oceanic and continental crusts.[1]

Researchers have divided the Superior Craton into many different domains based on rock types and deformation styles.[4] These domains (grouped into western and eastern superior provinces), include the North Superior Superterrane and Wawa Terrane, among others[4] (shown in the table below).

Studies on the formation of the Superior Craton varied in progress between the western and the eastern part. For the western part, five major orogenies were involved. They include the Northern Superior Orogeny (2720 Ma), the Uchian Orogeny (2720–2700 Ma), the Central Superior Orogeny (2700 Ma), the Shebandowanian Orogeny (2690 Ma), and the Minnesotan Orogeny (2680 Ma).[4] For the eastern part, two models are suggested. The first model by Percival and Skulski (2000) focuses on the collision between the terranes.[5] The second model by Bédard (2003)[6] and Bédard et al. (2003)[7] focuses on the effect of an active anorogenic magmatic activity.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Bleeker, W., & Davis, B. W. (2004, May). What is a craton? How many are there? How do they relate? And how did they form?. In AGU Spring Meeting Abstracts.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :67 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :68 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Bédard, Jean H. (March 2003). "Evidence for Regional-Scale, Pluton-Driven, High-Grade Metamorphism in the Archaean Minto Block, Northern Superior Province, Canada". The Journal of Geology. 111 (2): 183–205. Bibcode:2003JG....111..183B. doi:10.1086/345842. ISSN 0022-1376. S2CID 129180667.
  7. ^ Bedard, J.H (June 2004). "Erratum to "Archaean cratonization and deformation in the northern Superior Province, Canada: an evaluation of plate tectonic versus vertical tectonic models"". Precambrian Research. 131 (3–4): 373–374. Bibcode:2004PreR..131..373B. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2004.02.001. ISSN 0301-9268.