Cerros de Mavecure, Guainía department, ColombiaDevil's Canyon in the Canaima National Park, VenezuelaMap of the Guianas
The Guiana Shield[1] (French: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; Dutch: Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; Portuguese: Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; Spanish: Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast.[2] The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most well-known waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls and Cuquenan Falls.
The Guiana Shield underlies Guyana (previously British Guiana), Suriname (previously Dutch Guiana), and French Guiana (or Guyane), much of southern Venezuela, as well as parts of Colombia and Brazil. The rocks of the Guiana Shield consist of metasediments and metavolcanics (greenstones) overlain by sub-horizontal layers of sandstones, quartzites, shales and conglomerates intruded by sills of younger mafic intrusives such as gabbros.[3]
^The term Guiana or The Guianas is often used as a collective name for Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, and sometimes even includes the portions of Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil (including most of the state of Roraima) which are on the Guiana Shield.
^Hammond, David S. (ed.) (2005) Tropical Forests of the Guiana Shield CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK, ISBN
^Gibbs, A.K. and Barron,C.N. (eds) (1993) The Geology of the Guiana Shield Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, ISBN
The GuianaShield (French: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; Dutch: Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; Portuguese: Planalto das Guianas, Escudo...
represents one of Earth's largest cratonic regions. The GuianaShield and Central Brazil Shield (Guaporé Shield) constitute respectively the northern and southern...
collectively referred to as "the Guianas" and constitute one large landmass known as the GuianaShield. French Guiana was originally inhabited by indigenous...
The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a large neotropical species of eagle. It is also called the American harpy eagle to distinguish it from the Papuan...
The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, is a region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guyanas: Guyana, Suriname...
became independent as the Republic of Suriname. Dutch Guiana covered the majority of the GuianaShield, with its borders ranging from the Orinoco Delta in...
The hoatzin (/hoʊˈætsɪn/ hoh-AT-sin) or hoactzin (/hoʊˈæktsɪn/ hoh-AKT-sin) (Opisthocomus hoazin) is a species of tropical bird found in swamps, riparian...
Western Ethiopian Shield Amazonian Shield of central South America GuianaShield Guaporé or Central Brazilian Shield The Angaran Shield of West Siberia...
Checklist of the Plants of the GuianaShield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 55:...
total continental territory of the country. It is on the geological GuianaShield craton, and is the Venezuelan part of the biogeographic Guayana Highlands...
have emerged. They are thought to have originated in the tepuis of the GuianaShield approximately 100 million years ago. The greatest number of extant basal...
The great potoo or grand potoo (Nyctibius grandis) is the largest potoo species and is widely distributed in Central and South America. Much like owls...
0 in). It is distributed in the eastern portion of the GuianaShield, including parts of French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Brazil. The specific name, tinctorius...
The limpkin (Aramus guarauna), also called carrao, courlan, and crying bird, is a large wading bird related to rails and cranes, and the only extant species...
course of the Orinoco forms a wide ellipsoidal arc, surrounding the GuianaShield; it is divided in four stretches of unequal length that very roughly...
found in Amazon and Paraguay river basins, as well as rivers of the GuianaShield. It is one of the fish known as the "silver dollar" in the aquarium...
originate from the Amazon Basin, Orinoco Basin and various rivers in the GuianaShield in tropical South America. The three species of Pterophyllum are unusually...
(3,900 ft), at the edge of humid forests growing in foothills in the GuianaShield, and cross more open savannah habitats only when traveling between patches...
The jabiru (/ˌdʒæbɪˈruː/ or /ˈdʒæbɪruː/; Jabiru mycteria) is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It...
Perez-Hernández, R. (January–June 1993). "Ants on the tepuies of the GuianaShield: A zoogeographic study" (PDF). Ecotropicos. 6 (1): 21–28. Archived from...
The common ground dove (Columbina passerina) is a small bird that inhabits the southern United States, parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern...
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