Sclavia Craton

The Sclavia Craton is a late Archean supercraton thought to be parental to the Slave and Wyoming Cratons in North America, the Dharwar Craton in southern India, and the Zimbabwe Craton in southern Africa. It was proposed by Bleeker 2003, who estimated that there were about 35 Archean cratons, many of which might have come from one or a few supercratons.

The break-up of Sclavia, and possibly other ancient landmasses, happened around 2.33–2.1 Gya due to a lot of magmatic activity. This activity was likely caused by more mantle plume movement in Earth’s mantle. One result of this activity was the creation of Precambrian dyke swarms about 2.3 Ga old in the Dharwar Craton. Similar swarms have also been found in places like Antarctica, Australia, Finland, Greenland, and North America.

Scientists are learning more that suggests the Slave and Dharwar cratons had a shared history during the Archean time. However, the exact way these ancient landmasses were put together in a supercraton is still a mystery. One idea is that a supercontinent called Kenorland could have been a single landmass instead of three separate supercratons: Superia, Vaalbara, and Sclavia.