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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Superior Craton is a stable crustal block located in Canada, covering Quebec, Ontario, SE Manitoba and northern Minnesota, the USA. 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 1572000 km2[3]. The cratonhas undergone a series of events during 4.3-2.57 Ga. These events include the growth, drifting and deformation of both oceanic and continental crusts[1].
Researchers divided the Superior Craton into many different domains based on rock types and deformation styles[4]. These domains can be grouped into the western and the eastern superior provinces, such as the North Superior Superterrane, Wawa Terrane and so on[4].
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), Central Superior Orogeny (2700 Ma), 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.