Continental platform

Geologic provinces of the world (USGS)

Shield      Platform      Orogen      Basin      Large igneous province      Extended crust

Oceanic crust:      0–20 Ma      20–65 Ma      >65 Ma

In geology, a platform is a continental area covered by relatively flat or gently tilted, mainly sedimentary strata, which overlie a basement of consolidated igneous or metamorphic rocks of an earlier deformation. Platforms, shields and the basement rocks together constitute cratons.

[edit] See also

• List of shields and cratons

[edit] References

• Parker, Sybil P. (Ed.). 1997. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Geology and Mineralogy. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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