Platform (geology)

Sandy platform above the first Lusatian basement in the Welzow-South open-cast mine

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In geology, a platform is a continental area covered by relatively flat or gently tilted, mainly sedimentary strata, which overlie a basement of consolidated igneous or metamorphic rocks of an earlier deformation. Platforms, shields and the basement rocks together constitute cratons.

See also

• List of shields and cratons
• Carbonate platform

References

• Parker, Sybil P. (Ed.). 1997. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Geology and Mineralogy. New York: McGraw-Hill.