platform (geology)

{{Short description|Continental area covered by relatively flat or gently tilted, mainly sedimentary strata}}

{{World geologic provinces}}

File:Lithosphere of Earth - Idealized Cross-section.jpg, including the relationship between cratons, shields and platforms (Abbreviations: cb=cratonic basin, LIP=large igneous province, MOR=mid-ocean ridge)]]

In geology, platform sediments can be classified into the following groups: a "protoplatform" of metamorphosed sediments at the bottom, a "quasiplatform" of slightly deformed sediments, a "cataplatform", and an "orthoplatform" at the top. The Mesoproterozoic Jotnian sediments of the Baltic area are examples of a "quasiplatform".{{cite journal |last1=Nagornji |first1=M.A. |last2=Nikolaev |first2=V.G. |date=2005 |title=The quasiplatform sediments of the East European Platform |journal=Russian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=7 |issue= 5|pages= 1–12|doi=10.2205/2005ES000171 |bibcode=2005RuJES...700171N }} The post-Ordovician rocks of the South American Platform are examples of an orthoplatform.{{cite journal | url=http://ppegeo.igc.usp.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-38791976000100006&script=sci_arttext | title=The Upper Precambrian of South America | author=de Almeida, F. F. M. | journal=Boletim IG-USP | year=1976 | volume=7 | display-authors=etal | access-date=2015-09-29 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001213149/http://ppegeo.igc.usp.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-38791976000100006&script=sci_arttext | archive-date=2015-10-01 | url-status=dead }}