 A shield in any craton is the area of exposed crystalline crust while the other part of the craton is the “platform” where the crystalline crust or basement is overlaid by younger sedimentary cover.Thus the crustal segments of the East European Craton comprise both the Baltic Shield and the Ukrainian Shield, and the sedimentary platform basement.The East European Craton has a very complex tectonic history with extensive Proterozoic and Paleozoic rifting, a large portion of which is of early deep mantle plume origin.