East Antarctic craton

East Antarctic craton

The East Antarctic craton is an ancient craton that forms most of Antarctica. It was part of the Nena supercontinent 1.8 billion years ago. During the early Paleozoic Era East Antarctica joined the Gondwana supercontinent. During the Mesozoic breakup of Gondwanaland, East Antarctica separated from other major continental areas. During and following this breakup the tectonic terranes of West Antarctica were added to form the current continent of Antarctica.

References

* [http://pangea.stanford.edu/research/crustal/abst.txt Stanford University abstract]


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