Kenorland
Kenorland is a hypothetical primary continent in the history of the earth , which is said to have formed about 2.5 billion years ago. In the course of its history it was affected by two orogenes , but remained essentially intact. He was later included in the greater continent of Arctica .
Naming
The name Kenorland was proposed in 1991 by a group of scientists around Harold Williams . The name is derived from the Kenora orogeny , which dates back to approx. Took place 2.5 billion years ago.
Components
Kenorland essentially consisted of the Canadian Shield , i.e. H. the Superior Kraton , Slave Kraton, and Hearne Kraton .
Kenorland as a geological continent
Kenorland was welded to the greater continent of Arctica by accretion of the Wyoming craton, the Rae and Nain complexes from Greenland and two Siberian cratons at a point in time that has not yet been precisely determined (less than 2500 million years ago), probably around 1800 million years ago .
literature
- John JW Rogers and M. Santosh: Supercontinents in Earth History. Gondwana Research , 6 (3): 357-368, Osaka 2003, ISSN 1342-937X .
- Harold Williams, Paul F. Hoffman, John F. Lewry, James WH Monger, and Toby Rivers: Anatomy of North America: thematic geologic portrayals of the continent. Tectonophysics, 187: 117-134, Amsterdam 1991 ISSN 0040-1951 .
Web links
- Kenorland and the synthesis of Laurentia (PDF file)
- Carl Zimmer: Ancient Continent Opens Window on the Early Earth. In: Science , December 17, 1999 (PDF).
- The history of the early crusts of the Slave Kraton in NW Canada (PDF file; 702 kB)