A large, stable block of the Earth's continental crust that has been relatively undeformed for billions of years; the ancient core of a continent.
From Greek kratos meaning 'strength' or 'power,' suggesting solid, powerful rock. The term was coined in the 1930s by geologists to describe Earth's most ancient and stable crustal regions.
The oldest cratons on Earth are over 4 billion years old—they're like the immune system's 'remember when' files, with rocks so ancient they predate most of life's evolution.
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