Río de la Plata craton

The Río de la Plata craton is one of the five cratons (ancient nuclei) of the South American continent. The other four cratons are: Amazonian, São Francisco, Río Apa and Arequipa–Antofalla.

It crops out in southern Uruguay and parts of Argentina. Crystalline rocks of the Río de la Plata Craton are dated between 2200 and 1700 million years ago, such as rocks in Uruguay which are dated at 1790 ±5 Ma.^[1] Dikes trending ENE in the same area are dated by argon-argon dating at 1727 ±10 Ma.^[2] The craton has a size of about 20,000 square kilometres.

References

Rapela, C.W.; Pankhurst, R.J.; Casquet, C.; Fanning, C.M. (2007). "The Río de la Plata craton and the assembly of SW Gondwana". Earth-Science Reviews 83: 49–82. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2007.03.004.

^ Halls, H.C.; Campal, N.; Davis, D.W.; Bossi, J. (2001). "Magnetic studies and U-Pb geochronology of the Uruguayan dyke swarm, Río de la Plata craton, Uruguay: Paleomagnetic and economic implications". Journal of South American Earth Sciences.
^ Teixeira, W.; Renne, P.R.; Bossi, J.; Campal, N.; D'Agrella Filho, M.S. (1999). "40Ar-39Ar and Rb-Sr geochronology of the Uruguayan dike swarm, Río de la Plata Craton and implications for Proterozoic intraplate activity in Western Gondwana". Precambrian Research 93: 153–180. doi:10.1016/S0301-9268(98)00087-4.