dike swarm
geology
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geology of South America
- In South America: The Trans-Amazonian cycle
…platform deposits; and large extensional dike swarms (groups of tabular intrusions of igneous rock into sedimentary strata). The orogenic belts represent old mountain chains that had been formed either along the margins of the continent as geosynclines (downwarps of Earth’s crust) and then uplifted, such as the Maroni-Itacaiúnas belt, or…
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Proterozoic rocks
- In Precambrian: Basic dikes
…parallel, extensional fractures in major swarms. Individual dikes measure up to several hundred metres in width and length, and there may be hundreds or even thousands of dikes in a swarm, some having transcontinental dimensions. For example, the 1.2-billion-year-old Mackenzie swarm is more than 500 km (311 miles) wide and…
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