Río de la Plata Craton

The Rio de la Plata Craton is a medium sized continental block found in Uruguay, eastern Argentina and southern Brazil, one of five recognized South American cratons alongside the Amazonian, Sao Francisco, Rio Apa and Arequipa-Antofalla cratons. It carries two distinct orogenic cycles, a western domain of old craton dated to about 2000 million years ago and an eastern domain dated between about 700 and 500 million years ago and assigned to the Brasiliano Cycle, with crystalline rock across the craton dated between roughly 2200 and 1700 million years old and the craton covering approximately 20,000 square kilometers of granitoid rock, metamorphic rock, sedimentary successions and mafic dike swarms.