English: The distribution of Archaean and Proterozoic basement rocks in Australia. The three Archaean cratons were the nuclei around which three continental masses amalgamated (by accretion of terranes): the North-, West-, and East-Australian cratons. The three most likely docked during the Grenville Orogeny around 1.4 and 1.0 billion years ago. The east and southeast part of Australia (bordering the Pacific coast) is younger and must have accumulated at a later stage. The Proterozoic consists of mobile belts (orogens) as well as (deformed) basins.

The following sources were used to create this map:

• Cawood, P.A. and Korsch, R.J., 2008: Assembling Australia: Proterozoic building of a continent, Precambrian Research 166, p. 1-38.
• Johnson, D., 2009: The Geology of Australia, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-767415.
• van Kranendonk, M.J.; Smithies, R.H. and Bennett, V.C., 2007: Earth's Oldest Rocks, Developments in Precambrian Geology 15, Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-444-52810-0.