The Continent and the Craton
A craton is simply defined as a big block of the earth’s crust, creating the nucleus of a particular continent. We find the cartons in interiors of the tectonic plates. They comprise old crystalline basement rock covered by young sedimentary rocks.
They contain a dense crust and deep-seated lithospheric roots that go many kilometers into the mantle of the earth. Leopold Kober was the first one to put forward the name craton in 1921.
Examples of cratons are North China, Sarmatian, Amazonia, North American, the Kaapyaal and Gawler.
The North Atlantic Craton.
This is an Archaean craton in Greenland and the Lewisia complex in Scotland. The Ga Ketilidan Makkovik belt and the Nagssugtogidian orogen in the northern region bound the North Atlantic craton.
Palaeoproterozoic belts enclose the blocks and cratonic pieces of the North Atlantic Craton. Ultramafic magmatism occurred in the NAC for many billion years ago, but kimberlite releasing magmatism occurred on two occasions. That is in the Jurassic and the Neoproterozoic.
In the Greenland region, the North Atlantic Craton composes of TTG orthogenesis put apart by belts, anorthosite and granite impositions.
Baffin Island In Canada.
It lies in between Greenland and the mainland of Canada. it has an area of 507451 square kilometers. Baffin Island is the largest in the country of Canada.
Baffin Island gets indented by many fjords and a glacier-loaded high backbone with mountain tops over 2000 meters. We find iron ore remains in the northern region. In Nanisivik at its tip at the northwestern region, is the place of one of the globe’s mines creating the minerals of lead, zinc, and silver.
Study Research On Diamond Samples In The Region Of Canada Reveal The Size Of Lost Continent.
Professional researchers were studying some diamond samples from the Baffin Island and they saw remain of the North Atlantic Craton. The NAC runs from the region of Scotland to North America and separated about 150 million years. Scientists got the found the latest proof as they look at samples of the kimberlite.
Maya Kopylova, a geologist from the University of British Columbia, says,
“For researchers, kimberlites are subterranean rockets that pick up passengers on their way to the surface. The passengers are solid chunks of wall rocks that carry a wealth of details on conditions far beneath the surface of our planet.”
The geologist says the latest discovery is an addition to what was already there, because it enlarges a 10% to the previous size of the craton.
The Future Of Geology.
The world is in a shortage of geoscientists who get well trained in the earth’s study. These geologists are very important in today’s society, most wanting issues. These include problems in the water, energy, mineral sources, climate change, the internal and external environment, landslides, earthquakes, floods among other dangerous natural hazards.
Following the discovery, it adds additional knowledge to the field of geology for the next generations to come.
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