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The Pilbara Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.8–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth, along with the Kaapvaal Craton in South Africa .
Nevertheless, the oldest cratons on Earth include the Kaapvaal Craton, the Western Gneiss Terrane of the Yilgarn Craton (~2.9 – >3.2 Ga), the Pilbara Craton (~3.4 Ga), and portions of the Canadian Shield (~2.4 – >3.6 Ga). Parts of Dharwar Craton in India are greater than 3.0 Ga.
The cratons appear to have been assembled to form the greater Australian landmass in the late Archaean to Mesoproterozoic, ~2400 Ma to 1,600 Ma. Chiefly the Glenburgh Orogeny is partly responsible for the assembly of the West Australian landmass by joining the Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons. The Glenburgh Orogeny is exposed in the rocks of the ...
The Yilgarn Craton is a large craton that constitutes a major part of the Western Australian land mass. It is bounded by a mixture of sedimentary basins and Proterozoic fold and thrust belts . Zircon grains in the Jack Hills , Narryer Terrane have been dated at ~4.27 Ga , with one detrital zircon dated as old as 4.4 Ga. [ 1 ]
The Archean rocks from the Pilbara craton contain some of the first evidence of life, primitive cyanobacterial mats known as stromatolites. Soft-bodied organisms from the Ediacaran collectively known as the Ediacaran biota are found in sandstone around the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, notably at a site known as Wilpena Pound.
The Kaapvaal craton is marked by dramatic events such as the intrusion of the Bushveld Complex (2.045 Ga) and the Vredefort impact event (2.025 Ga), and no traces of these events have been found in the Pilbara craton, clearly indicating that the two cratons were separated before 2.05 Ga. [10] Furthermore, geochronological and palaeomagnetic ...
There are only two locations in the world containing rock formations that are intact enough to preserve evidence of early life: the Kaapvaal Craton in Southern Africa and the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia. [4] The Dresser Formation is located in the Pilbara Craton, and contains sedimentary rock from the Paleoarchean Era.
East European Craton, the core of Baltica. Volgo-Uralian Craton, Russia (3.0–2.7 Ga) Baltic Shield, part of the East European Craton; Fennoscandian Shield, the exposed Northwestern part of the Baltic Shield in Norway, Sweden and Finland (3.1 Ga) Karelian Craton, part of the Fennoscandian Shield in Southeast Finland and Karelia Russia, (3.4 Ga)