Kaapvaal Craton
E162085
The Kaapvaal Craton is one of Earth’s oldest and most stable pieces of continental crust, located in southern Africa and renowned for hosting some of the world’s richest gold deposits.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Kaapvaal Craton canonical | 6 |
| Kalahari craton (in many models) | 1 |
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Archean craton
ⓘ
craton ⓘ geological province ⓘ |
| age | Archean ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
early Earth tectonics studies
ⓘ
formation of early continental crust ⓘ |
| comparedWith | Pilbara Craton ⓘ |
| contains |
Barberton Greenstone Belt
ⓘ
Bushveld Igneous Complex ⓘ Vredefort Dome ⓘ
surface form:
Vredefort impact structure basement
Witwatersrand ⓘ
surface form:
Witwatersrand Basin
|
| continent | Africa ⓘ |
| country |
Botswana
ⓘ
Eswatini ⓘ South Africa ⓘ Zimbabwe ⓘ |
| crustalThickness | about 35–40 km ⓘ |
| formsPairedCratonWith | Pilbara Craton ⓘ |
| geologicalEra | Archean Eon ⓘ |
| hasEconomicImportance |
chromite mining
ⓘ
diamond mining ⓘ gold mining ⓘ platinum mining ⓘ |
| hasFeature | thick lithospheric mantle root ⓘ |
| hasOldestRocksDated | older than 3.5 billion years ⓘ |
| hostsDepositType |
layered mafic-ultramafic intrusion deposits
ⓘ
orogenic gold deposits ⓘ paleoplacer gold deposits ⓘ |
| hypothesizedToHaveBeenPartOf | Vaalbara supercraton ⓘ |
| knownFor |
hosting diamond-bearing kimberlites
ⓘ
hosting platinum-group metal deposits ⓘ hosting rich gold deposits ⓘ stability of continental crust ⓘ |
| lithology |
granite-greenstone terranes
ⓘ
high-grade gneiss terrains ⓘ |
| lithosphericThickness | up to about 200–250 km ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Southern Africa
ⓘ
surface form:
southern Africa
|
| maximumAge | about 3.6 billion years ⓘ |
| minimumAge | about 2.5 billion years ⓘ |
| overlainBy |
Transvaal Supergroup
ⓘ
Ventersdorp Supergroup ⓘ Witwatersrand Supergroup ⓘ |
| partOf |
African Plate
ⓘ
Precambrian basement of southern Africa ⓘ |
| researchField |
Precambrian geology
ⓘ
economic geology ⓘ geochronology ⓘ |
| tectonicSetting | stable continental interior ⓘ |
Referenced by (7)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Rodinia
this entity surface form:
Kalahari craton (in many models)