There has been some debate as to when and even if Vaalbara existed.

An Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic (2.8–2.1 Gya) link between South Africa and Western Australia

was first proposed by A. Button in 1976. He found a wide range of similarities between the

Transvaal Basin in South Africa and the Hamersley Basin in Australia. Button, however, placed

Madagascar between Africa and Australia and concluded that Gondwana must have had a long

stable tectonic history.[2] Similarly, in the reconstruction of Rogers 1993, 1996 the oldest

continent is Ur. In Rogers' reconstructions, however, Kaapvaal and Pilbara are placed far apart

already in their Gondwana configuration, a reconstruction contradicted by later orogenic events

and incompatible with the Vaalbara hypothesis.[3]

Cheney 1996, nevertheless, found a three-fold stratigraphic similarity and proposed that the two

cratons once formed a continent which he named Vaalbara. This model is supported by the

palaeomagnetic data of Zegers, de Wit & White 1998.[4] Reconstructions of the palaeolatitudes

of the two cratons at 2.78–2.77 Ga are ambiguous however. In the reconstruction of Wingate

1998 they fail to overlap, but they do in more recent reconstructions, for example Strik et al.

2003.[5]

Other scientists dispute the existence of Vaalbara and explain similarities between the two

cratons as the product of global processes. They point to, for example, thick volcanic deposits on

other cratons such as Amazonia, São Francisco, and Karnataka.[6]

Zimgarn, another proposed supercraton composed of the Zimbabwe and Yilgarn cratons at 2.41

Ga, is distinct from Vaalbara. Zimgarn should have disintegrated around 2.1–2.0 Ga to

reassemble as the Kalahari and West Australian (Yilgarn and Pilbara) cratons around 1.95–1.8

Ga.[7]

The Archaean-Palaeoproterozoic Grunehogna Craton in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica,

formed the eastern part of the Kalahari Craton for at least a billion years. Grunehogna collided

with the rest of East Antarctica during the Mesoproterozoic assembly of the supercontinent

Rodinia and the Grenville orogeny. The Neoproterozoic Pan-African orogeny and the assembly

of Gondwana/Pannotia produced large shear zones between Grunehogna and Kalahari. During

the Jurassic break-up of Gondwana these shear zones finally separated Grunehogna and the rest

of Antarctica from Africa.[8] In the Annandags Peaks, the only exposed parts of Grunehogna,

detrital zircons from several crustal sources have been dated to 3.9–3.0 Ga suggesting

intracrustal recycling was an important part in the formation of the first cratons.[9]

The Kaapvaal craton is marked by dramatic events such as the intrusion of the Bushveld

Complex (2.045 Ga) and the Vredefort impact event (2.025 Ga), and no traces of these events

have been found in the Pilbara craton, clearly indicating that the two cratons were separated

before 2.05 Ga.[10] Furthermore, geochronological and palaeomagnetic evidence show that the

two cratons had a rotational 30° latitudinal separation in the time period of 2.78–2.77 Ga, which

indicates they were no longer joined after c. 2.8 billion years ago.[11]
Vaalbara thus remained stable for 1–0.4 Ga and hence had a life span similar to that of later

supercontinents such as Gondwana and Rodinia.[10] Some palaeomagnetic reconstructions

suggest a Palaeoarchaean Proto-Vaalbara is possible, although the existence of this 3.6–3.2 Ga

continent can't be unequivocally proven.[12]