Ukrainian Crystalline Massif

(also Ukrainian Shield), an uplifted block of basement rock in the southwestern part of the Eastern European Platform, extending along the middle and lower Dnieper. The massif has an area of about 200,000 sq km. The folded foundation is broken up by deep meridional faults into a series of blocks: the Volyn’-Podol’e, Belaia Tserkov’-Odessa, Kirovograd, Dnieper, and Azov blocks.

In places, the massifs crystalline basement is covered by a mantle of Cenozoic deposits. The most ancient basement rocks are the lower Archean amphibolites and the schists of the Kon-ka-Verkhovtsevo series in the Dnieper block. The gneisses and schists of the Volyn’-Podol’e, Kirovograd, and Azov blocks are somewhat younger (upper Archean). Lower Proterozoic rocks form the Krivoi Rog series, which contains pockets of ferruginous quartzites. The Korosten’ and Korsun’-Novomirgorod plu-tons of rapakivi granitoids, the Azov complex of alkaline rocks, and others are attributed to the middle Proterozoic. The upper Proterozoic is represented by the Ovruch series of quartzites, schists, and quartz porphyries in the northwestern part of the massif, where they occur in sharp unconformities.

The Krivoi Rog iron-ore basin is located in the Ukrainian Crystalline Massif. The Dnieper coal basin and the Nikopol’ manganese-ore deposit are associated with the mantle rocks on the slopes of the massif.