Cratons

Around 550 million years ago, on the boundary between the Ediacaran and Cambrian, the first group of cratons eventually fused again with Amazonia, West Africa and the Rio de la Plata cratons.

Mr Porter has provided training, regional assessment, targeting advice and technical input into exploration programs for numerous companies across the Archean Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons of Western Australia and globally.

Diamond-bearing volcanic pipes are closely related to the oldest, coolest regions of continental crust (cratons).

Since then, many alternative reconstructions have been proposed for the configuration of the cratons in this supercontinent.

Tectonic history (Supercontinents) Evidence of collision and rifting between continents raises questions as to what exactly the movements of the Archean cratons composing Proterozoic continents were.

The correct combination of temperature and pressure is only found in the thick, ancient, and stable parts of continental plates where regions of lithosphere known as cratons exist.

The long-term tectonic stability of these cratons is the reason we find continental crust ranging up to a few billion years in age.

This is because cratons are very thick, and their lithospheric mantle extends to great enough depth that diamonds are stable.

This orogeny was related to the opening of the Arctic Ocean and subduction of the North China and Siberian cratons under the Pacific Ocean.