"Brazilian shield" redirects here. For the highlands in eastern, central and southern Brazil, see
Brazilian Highlands.
The Amazonian Craton is a
geologic province located in
South America. It occupies a large portion of the central, north and eastern part of the continent and represents one of Earth's largest
cratonic regions.[1] The
Guiana Shield and Central Brazil Shield (Guaporé Shield) constitute respectively the northern and southern
exhumed parts of the craton. Between the two shields lies the
Amazon Rift, a zone of weakness within the craton. Smaller cratons of
Precambrian rocks south of the Amazonian Shield are the
Río de la Plata Craton and the
São Francisco Craton, which lies to the east.
The Río Apa Craton at the
Paraguay-Brazil border is considered be likely just the southern part of the Amazonian Craton.[2] The rocks of Río Apa were deformed during the
Sunsás orogeny.[3]
^Mantovani, Marta S.M.;
de Brito Neves, Benjamin B. (2010). "The Paranapanema Lithospheric Block: Its Nature and Role in the Accretion of Gondwana". In Gaucher, Claudio; Sial, Alcides; Haverson, Galen (eds.). Neoproterozoic-Cambrian tectonics, global change and evolution: a focus on south western Gondwana. Elsevier. p. 258.
doi:
10.1016/S0166-2635(09)01619-3.
^Tohver, E.; Trindade, R.I.F.; Solum, G.F.; Hall, C.M.; Riccomini, C.; Nogueira, A.C. (2010). "Closing the Clymene ocean and bending a Brasiliano belt: Evidence for the Cambrian formation of Gondwana, southeast Amazon craton". Geology. 38 (3): 267–270.
Bibcode:
2010Geo....38..267T.
doi:
10.1130/G30510.1.
^Bingen, Bernard; Nordgulen, Øystein; Viola, Giulio (2008). "A four-phase model for the Sveconorwegian orogeny, SW Scandinavia". Norwegian Journal of Geology. 88: 43–72.