Columbia (supercontinent) - Assembly

Assembly

Columbia was assembled along global-scale 2.0–1.8 Ga collisional orogens and contained almost all of Earth’s continental blocks. The cratonic blocks in South America and West Africa were welded by the 2.1-2.0 Ga Transamazonian and Eburnean Orogens; the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons in southern Africa were collided along the ~2.0 Ga Limpopo Belt; the cratonic blocks of Laurentia were sutured along the 1.9–1.8 Ga Trans-Hudson, Penokean, Taltson–Thelon, Wopmay, Ungava, Torngat, and Nagssugtoqidain Orogens; the Kola, Karelia, Volgo-Uralia, and Sarmatia cratons in Baltica (Eastern Europe) were joined by the 1.9–1.8 Ga Kola–Karelia, Svecofennian, Volhyn-Central Russian, and Pachelma Orogens; the Anabar and Aldan Cratons in Siberia were connected by the 1.9–1.8 Ga Akitkan and Central Aldan Orogens; the East Antarctica and an unknown continental block were joined by the Transantarctic Mountains Orogen; the South and North Indian Blocks were amalgamated along the Central Indian Tectonic Zone; and the Eastern and Western Blocks of the North China Craton were welded together by the ~1.85 Ga Trans-North China Orogen.