Archean rocks of the Karelia, Belomorian and Kola domains
Proterozoic rocks of the Karelia and Kola domains
Svecofennian Domain
Transscandinavian Igneous Belt
Timanide Orogen
Sveconorwegian Orogen (including the Western Gneiss Region)
Caledonian nappes
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 Proterozoic gneisses and greenstone which have undergone numerous deformations through tectonic activity. It contains the oldest rocks of the European continent with a thickness of 250–300 km.
The Baltic Shield is divided into five provinces: the Svecofennian and Sveconorwegian (or Southwestern gneiss) provinces in Fennoscandia, and the Karelian, Belomorian and Kola provinces in Russia. The latter three are divided further into several blocks and complexes and contain the oldest of the rocks, at 3100–2500 Ma (million years) old. The youngest rocks belong to the Sveconorwegian province, at 1700–900 Ma old.
Thought to be formerly part of an ancient continent, the Baltic Shield grew in size through collisions with neighbouring crustal fragments. The mountains created by these tectonic processes have since been eroded to their bases, the region being largely flat today. Through five successive Pleistocene glaciations and subsequent retreats, the Baltic Shield has been scoured clean of its overlying sediments, leaving expansive areas (most within Scandinavia) exposed. It is therefore of importance to geophysicists studying the geologic history and dynamics of eastern Europe.
The scouring and compression of the Baltic Shield by glacial movements created the area's many lakes and streams, the land retaining only a thin layer of sandy sediment collected in depressions and eskers. Most soil consists of moraine, a grayish yellow mixture of sand and rocks, with a thin layer of humus on top. Vast forests, featuring almost exclusively the three species pine, spruce and birch, dominate the landscape, clearly demarcating its boundaries. The soil is acidic and has next to no carbonates such as limestone. The scouring by the ancient glaciers and the acidity of the soil have destroyed all palaeontologically interesting materials, such as fossils.
The Baltic Shield yields important industrial minerals and ores, such as those of iron, nickel, copper and platinum group metals. Because of its similarity to the Canadian Shield and cratons of southern Africa and Western Australia, the Baltic Shield had long been a suspected source of diamonds and gold. Currently, the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt in the north is considered to be an unexplored area that has the potential to hold exploitable gold deposits.
Recent exploration has revealed a significant number of diamond-bearing kimberlites in the Kola Peninsula, and (possibly extensive) deposits of gold in Finland.
The BalticShield (or Fennoscandian Shield) is a segment of the Earth's crust belonging to the East European Craton, representing a large part of Fennoscandia...
Bogdanova, Svetlana (1993-12-01). "Frontiers in the BalticShield". Precambrian Research. The BalticShield. 64 (1): 3–21. doi:10.1016/0301-9268(93)90066-B...
The Baltic Sea Region, alternatively the Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states, refers to the general area...
Lithuania Baltic Provinces or governorates, former parts of the Swedish Empire and then Russian Empire (in modern Latvia, Estonia) BalticShield, the exposed...
Canadian Shield (French: Bouclier canadien [buklje kanadjɛ̃]), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large...
Shield (Western) Australian ShieldBalticShield of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe Canadian Shield a.k.a. Laurentian Shield The China-Korean Shield containing...
Norway, in that order. The Scandinavian Peninsula occupies part of the BalticShield, a stable and large crust segment formed of very old, crystalline metamorphic...
The geology of the Baltic Sea is characterized by having areas located both at the BalticShield of the East European Craton and in the Danish-North German-Polish...
Sarmatia to the south. Fennoscandia includes the BalticShield (also referred to as the Fennoscandian Shield) and has a diversified accretionary Archaean...
Superdeep Borehole penetrated about a third of the way through the BalticShield continental crust, estimated to be around 35 kilometres (22 mi) deep...
important landforms like the Sub-Cambrian peneplain that covers much of the BalticShield. Hillslope evolution Pediment (geology) Soil erosion Surface runoff...
Lidmar-Bergström, Karna (1995). "Relief and saprolites through time on the BalticShield". Geomorphology. 12 (1): 45–61. Bibcode:1995Geomo..12...45L. doi:10...
microfibrious material, it preserves small fossils quite well. Stabilization of BalticShield begins. c. 3.340 Ma – Johannesburg Dome forms in South Africa: located...
"Denudation surfaces and tectonics in the southernmost part of the BalticShield". Precambrian Research. 64 (1–4): 337–345. Bibcode:1993PreR...64..337L...
needed] East European Craton – Geology of Europe BalticShield, also known as Fennoscandian Shield – Ancient segment of Earth's crust Junggar Plate –...
The Baltic Sea anomaly is a feature visible on an indistinct sonar image taken by Peter Lindberg, Dennis Åberg and their Swedish OceanX diving team while...
sequences permit this reconstruction. The core of Kenorland, the Baltic/Fennoscandian Shield, traces its origins back to over 3.1 Ga. The Yilgarn Craton (present-day...
Lidmar-Bergströrm, Karna (1995). "Relief and saprolites through time on the BalticShield". Geomorphology. 12 (1). Elsevier: 45–61. Bibcode:1995Geomo..12...45L...
Fennoscandinavia), which in technical use refers to the Fennoscandian Shield (or BalticShield), that is the Scandinavian Peninsula (Norway and Sweden), Finland...
Turkic tribes by geology: Alpine orogeny East European craton BalticShield Ukrainian Shield by the United Nations Statistics Division's geoscheme (see also:...
is geologically part of the BalticShield, which also covers Fennoscandia and northwest parts of Russia. The BalticShield has the oldest rock in Europe...
Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, locally overlying crystalline basement of the BalticShield. Two ancient fault systems divide the geology of the peninsula into...
Siberia, the Canadian Shield, Montana, Wyoming (exposed parts of the Wyoming Craton), Minnesota (Minnesota River Valley), the BalticShield, the Rhodope Massif...
the BalticShield in the north. It has been hypothesized, but not proven, that waters of the Litorina Sea, the next brackish-water stage of the Baltic, occasionally...
within the Pajala shear zone, in the northern BalticShield (also sometimes called the Fennoscandian shield ). The company declared bankruptcy Dec. 8, 2014...
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