South China Crater
South China Craton , also known as South China Craton , South China Continent or Yangtze Kraton , was an ancient continental craton that now forms parts of southern China, Indochina, and parts of Southeast Asia (e.g. Borneo, Taiwan). Southern China was part of several former supercontinents, including Rodinia , Pannotia , Gondwana , Pangea , Laurasia, and Eurasia .
Precambrian
About a billion years ago (Late Proterozoic ) the supercontinent Rodinia was formed. As part of the primary continent Rodinia, southern China was bordered by the Mirovia Ocean in the north, the Sibiria continent in the east, Australia in the west and Laurentia in the south. Rodina broke apart 750 million years ago and southern China became its own isolated continent.
A hundred million years later, the previously fragmented parts of Rodinia became the new supercontinent of Pannotia . South China collided with North China and East Gondwana (mainly Australia ).
Paleozoic
When Pannotia broke up 550 million years ago, the South and North Chinakratons became part of East Gondwana. In the late Silurian (175 million years after the breakup of Pannotia) they drifted away from Gondwana and moved over the shrinking Proto-Tethys . A new ocean was formed on the southern edge, the Palaeotethys . In the late Carboniferous (300 million years ago), when the North China Crater collided with Siberia and the Kazakhstan Terran, completely closing the Proto-Tethys, South China became a continent of its own.
Mesozoic and Cenozoic
During the Permian, southern China stayed in tropical latitudes. While most of the large bear moss plants of the Carboniferous disappeared, these remained in southern China due to the isolated location of Pangea. Cimmeria , a microcontinent comprising what is now Tibet , Iran and parts of Southeast Asia , broke away from Gondwana and moved towards Laurasia. The Paleo-Tethys began to shrink and the new Tethys Ocean expanded. In the Middle Triassic, the eastern part of Cimmeria collided with the southern Chinakraton and together they drifted northwards towards Laurasia. In the late Triassic, the South Chinacraton collided with the North Chinakraton and formed today's China. As a result of the collision with India with the southern edge of Cimmeria, several mountains formed in southern China.
swell
- Qing-Ren Meng, Guo-Wei Zhang, (1999): Timing of collision of the North and South China blocks: Controversy and reconciliation. - Geology, volume 27, number 2: pages 123–126.