Sclavia Craton

The Sclavia Craton is a late Archean supercraton thought to be parental to the Slave and Wyoming Cratons in North America, the Dharwar Craton in southern India, and the Zimbabwe Craton in southern Africa. Sclavia was proposed by Bleeker 2003 who estimated the number of Archean cratons to ca. 35; cratonic fragments which he suggested were derived from a single or a few supercratons.[1]

The break-up of Sclavia, and possibly other continents or supercratons, can be linked to a global pulse of magmatic activity around 2.33–2.1 Gya probably caused by increased mantle plume activity. Related results of this mantle activity include the 2.3 Ga-old Precambrian dyke swarms in the Dharwar Craton in southern India which were emplaced in only five million years. Similar swarms have been found in what is today Antarctica, Australia, Finland, Greenland, and North America.[2]

There is growing evidences that support that the Slave and Dharwar cratons shared a common history through the Archean but the exact configuration of the Archean supercraton from which they were derived is unknown.[3]

Kenorland, a proposed supercontinent, is a "one-piece" alternative to three separate supercratons: Superia, Vaalbara, and Sclavia.[4]

References
Notes
  1. Bleeker 2003, Abstract
  2. French & Heaman 2010, Abstract
  3. French & Heaman 2010, Testing the existence of the supercraton Sclavia, pp. 436–438
  4. Ernst 2007; Lubnina & Slabunov 2011
Sources
  • Bleeker, W. (2003). "The Late Archaean Record, a Puzzle in ca. 35 Pieces". Lithos. 71 (2): 99–134. doi:10.1016/j.lithos.2003.07.003.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Ernst, R. E. (2007). Global record of large igneous provinces [LIPs] and its use in paleocontinental reconstructions. GSA Denver Annual Meeting. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • French, J. E.; Heaman, L. M. (2010). "Precise U–Pb dating of Paleoproterozoic mafic dyke swarms of the Dharwar craton, India: implications for the existence of the Neoarchean supercraton Sclavia" (PDF). Precambrian Research. 183 (3): 416–441. doi:10.1016/j.precamres.2010.05.003. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lubnina, N.; Slabunov, A. (2011). Neoarchean supercontinent Kenorland: paleomagnetic and geologic evidence (PDF). Geophysical Research Abstracts. 13. Retrieved 14 May 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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