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.
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^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.
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^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.
^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.
The SuperiorCraton is a stable crustal block covering Quebec, Ontario, and southeast Manitoba in Canada, and northern Minnesota in the United States...
Archean supercontinent consisting of the Kaapvaal Craton (now in eastern South Africa) and the Pilbara Craton (now in north-western Western Australia). E....
Archaean cratons, including the Siberian Craton, with its Anabar/Aldan shields in Siberia, and the Slave, Wyoming, Superior, and North Atlantic cratons in North...
Scotia Plate Rae Craton – Archean craton in northern Canada north of the SuperiorCraton (Canada) Sask Craton (Canada) Sclavia Craton – Late Archean supercraton...
continental crust of North America. The Wyoming Craton was sutured together with the Superior and Hearne-Rae cratons in the mountain-building episode that created...
when the Slave craton collided with the Rae-Hearne craton, and the Rae-Hearne craton collided shortly after with the SuperiorCraton. These then merged...
of the Nastapoka arc largely consists of Archean age rocks of the Superiorcraton. In areal distribution, these rocks consist of about 60% Archean granitic...
geological provinces; The Superior, Southern and Grenville. The SuperiorCraton or Superior Province is an Archean craton. It is a 160-mile thick section...
Aridoamerica by geology: Canadian Shield North American craton Slave cratonSuperiorcraton Wyoming craton by geography: Eastern South America: Federative Republic...
from the newly identified Eoarchean Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt, SuperiorCraton, Canada". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 121 (1–2): 150–163...
Western Churchill and Superiorcratons. These cratons are separated by a tectonic collage that forms a suture zone between these cratons and the Trans-Hudson...
Huronian Supergroup is a Proterozoic assemblage of geologic groups of the Superiorcraton of the Canadian Shield in Ontario and Quebec. It extends from west...
of Laurentia, that at some time during the breakup, the Slave and Superiorcratons were not part of the supercontinent Kenorland, but, by then may have...
Archean greenstone belts on Earth and one of the youngest parts of the Superiorcraton which sequentially forms part of the Canadian Shield. Komatiite lavas...
billion years ago, in the area of Lake Superior, North America. The core of this orogeny, the Churchill Craton, is composed of terranes derived from the...
Keweenawan Rift. Lake Superior now occupies the apex of the rift; the section to its north marked "SUPERIOR" is the SuperiorCraton Sleeping Giant in Ontario...
greenstone belts, Wawa subprovince, SuperiorCraton: Implications for the Neoarchean development of the southwestern Superior Province, Precambrian Research...
geologic feature associated with the Circum-Superior Belt large igneous province throughout the Superiorcraton. Birchtree mine originally opened in 1965...
The Rae Craton is an Archean craton located in northern Canada, north of the SuperiorCraton. The Ungava Peninsula, situated on the northeast portion of...
Zone is a geological feature in Eastern Canada that separates the Superiorcraton from rocks of the Grenville orogeny. It is a large tectonic zone of...
The Churchill Craton is the northwest section of the Canadian Shield and stretches from southern Saskatchewan and Alberta to northern Nunavut. It has a...
granite-greenstone, and metamorphosed sedimentary terrains of the SuperiorCraton of the Canadian Shield. With an area of 360,000 square kilometres (140...
to form the Canadian Shield. The southern Archean province is the SuperiorCraton, it is formed by the combination of a greenstone-granite and a gneiss...
lies within the southern zone of the Abitibi greenstone belt of the SuperiorCraton and has an area of 3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi). The Blake River Megacaldera...
Archean greenstone belts on Earth and one of the youngest parts of the Superiorcraton which sequentially forms part of the Canadian Shield. Komatiite lavas...
and Nebraska. Result of the collision of the Superiorcraton with the Hearne craton and the Wyoming craton, during the Proterozoic Eon (2000–1800 Ma) Nagssugtoqidian...
region of Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It represents a feature of the Superiorcraton, an ancient and stable part of the Earth's lithosphere that forms the...
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