Australia

Other ancient rock masses in Australia are the Arunta Complex north of Alice Springs in the center of Australia which dates to 2.25 billion years ago. The MacArthur Basin, southwest of the Gulf of Carpenteria in the Northern Territory is a belt of sedimentary rocks that are between 1.8 billion and 1.5 billion years old.

The Musgrave block near the continent's center, a component of the Adelaidian geosyncline, was formed by the repeated intrusion of molten rocks between 1.4 billion to one billion years ago during the Proterozoic era when algae, jellyfish, and worms first arose. At the same time, the rocks that underlay the Adelaidian geosyncline were downwarped by geological pressures, with sediments building up through mid-Cambrian times (about 535 million years ago) when the area was inundated 400 mi (640 km) by the sea inland of the present coastline.