Río de la Plata Craton

The Rio de la Plata Craton (RPC) is a medium-sized continental block found in Uruguay, eastern Argentina and southern Brazil.

Along the Uruguayan east coast (reaching into Brazil) is the Cuchilla Dionisio Terrane, an allochthonous African block juxtaposed to the RPC along the Sierra Ballena Shear Zone (SBSZ).

[1] A period of extensional tectonics in the Late Paleoproterozoic coincided with the formation and intrusion of the Piedra Alta mafic dike swarm and the rapakivi granites of Illescas Batholith.

[4] The 1790±5 Ma-old Late Palaeoproterozoic Piedra Alta mafic dike swarm was subsequently affected by the 8 km (5.0 mi)-wide Mesoproterozoic SYSZ and its eastern end bends along the dextral megashear zone.

[1][5] Today, the Río de la Plata Craton crops out in southern Uruguay and parts of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.

Atlantica at about 2.0 Ga. Archaean cratons in grey. Modern continents added for orientation.
Approximate location of Mesoproterozoic (older than 1.3 Ga) cratons in South America and Africa.
Shear zones and terranes in Uruguay after Gaucher et al. 2008 , Fig. 1