From the formation of Rodinia at the end of the Mesoproterozoic to the commencement of Pangea breakup at the end of the Paleozoic, the South China craton fi rst formed and then occupied a position adjacent to Western Australia and northern India. Early Neoproterozoic suprasubduction zone magmatic arc-backarc assemblages in the craton range in age from ca. 1000 Ma to 820 Ma and display a sequential northwest decrease in age. These relations suggest formation and closure of arc systems through southeast-directed subduction, resulting in progressive northwestward accretion onto the periphery of an already assembled Rodinia. Siliciclastic units within an early Paleozoic succession that transgresses across the craton were derived from the southeast and include detritus from beyond the current limits of the craton. Detrital zircon age spectra require an East Gondwana source and are very similar to the Tethyan Himalaya and younger Paleozoic successions from Western Australia, suggesting derivation from a common source and by inference accumulation in linked basins along the northern margin of Gondwana, a situation that continued until rifting and breakup of the craton in the late Paleozoic.

Locating South China in Rodinia and Gondwana: A fragment of Greater India Lithosphere? (Invited)

Central China Orogenic Belt and amalgamation of East Asian continents

Cross Orogenic Belts in Central China: Implications for the tectonic and paleogeographic evolution of the East Asian continental collage

Ediacara-type macrofossils characterize the late Ediacaran Period and are pivotal in understanding the early evolution of animals on the eve of the Cambrian explosion and useful in late Ediacaran biostratigraphy. They have been discovered on almost all major paleocontinents, except the North China and Tarim blocks, as well as on a series of northwestwest–oriented cratonic fragments between the two blocks, including the Olongbuluke terrane of the Qaidam block, where the terminal Ediacaran successions developed. We report a newly discovered terminal Ediacaran biotic assemblage, the Quanjishan assemblage, containing Ediacara-type fossils from the Zhoujieshan Formation of the Quanji Group in the Olongbuluke terrane, Qaidam Basin, northwestern China. The Quanjishan assemblage is dominated by the non-biomineralized tubular taxon Shaanxilithes, which has the potential to be a terminal Ediacaran index fossil, and by the iconic frondose rangeomorph Charnia, which represents the only unambiguous Ediacara-type fossil discovered in northwestern China. The co-occurrence of Charnia and Shaanxilithes from the Quanjishan assemblage likely constrains the depositional age of the Zhoujieshan Formation to be terminal Ediacaran (ca. 550–539 Ma) and the immediately underlying Hongtiegou diamictites to be late Ediacaran, probably representing post-Gaskiers glacial deposition. The occurrence of post-Gaskiers Ediacaran glaciation and similarities between the late Ediacaran–early Paleozoic lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic sequences in the Olongbuluke terrane of the Qaidam block and the North China block suggest that these two blocks may have been located close to each other during this time period, and situated in the middle to high latitudes instead of the equatorial region.

New Ediacara-type fossils and late Ediacaran stratigraphy from the northern Qaidam Basin (China): Paleogeographic implications

The assembling of the Eurasian continent occurred from the Proterozoic to the Mesozoic over a time span of nearly one billion years (Scotese & McKerrow, 1990; Şengör & Natal'in, 1996; Sone & Metcalfe, 2008; Yin & Nie, 1996). It was accomplished primarily by the closure of the Paleo-Asian and Tethyan ocean systems, involving cratonal blocks separated from the supercontinents Columbia, Rodinia, and Pangea (e.g., Badarch et al., 2002; Biske & Seltmann, 2010; Heubeck, 2001; Kusky et al., 2007; S. Li et al., 2018; Rogers & Santosh, 2002; Şengör & Natal'in, 1996; Stampfli & Borel, 2002; C. Wu et al., 2016a; Yin & Nie, 1996; G. C. Zhao et al., 2018; Zonenshain et al., 1990; Zuza & Yin, 2017) (Figure 1). The Paleo-Asian and the Tethyan oceanic domains are separated by the Tarim and North China cratons whose geologic histories are critical for deciphering the interactions of the two orogenic systems to the north and south. A major obstacle for establishing the geologic history of Tarim and North China cratons is that the two tectonic entities are currently bounded by Cenozoic structures along the southern margin of the Tian Shan and the northern margin of the Tibetan plateau (Figure 1). These structures have either reactivated or strongly modified the earlier tectonic configurations of the region (e.g., Yin & Nie, 1996). For example, Cenozoic structures that bound the southern margin of Tarim and North China cratons overprinted Mesozoic extensional basins (X. Chen et al., 2003; Vincent & Allen, 1999), an early Paleozoic arc-continent collision system (e.g., S. Song Abstract The Proterozoic-Phanerozoic evolution of the Tarim and North China cratons is integral to the construction of the Eurasian continent. Throughout the Paleozoic, these continents were bound by the Paleo-Asian and Tethyan Oceans to the north and south, respectively, and, thus, their paleogeography is critical to reconstructions of the oceanic domains. Specifically, it remains uncertain whether the Tarim and North China cratons were contiguous during the Paleozoic. Geologic observations from the Qilian Shan and Longshou Shan of western China provide valuable information regarding the paleotectonic relationships of these continents. Here we present detailed field, geochronological, and geochemical observations from key locations in the Qilian Shan and Longshou Shan to decipher complex relationships between the Kunlun-Qaidam, North China, and Tarim continents. Paleoproterozoic deformation might have been associated with the northern North China orogen, whereas a Neoproterozoic collisional orogen occurred between the Kunlun-Qaidam-South Tarim and the North China-North Tarim. Subsequent late Neoproterozoic rifting led to the opening of the Qilian ocean as an embayed marginal sea, and the PaleoAsian Ocean developed along the northern margin of the North China craton. South-dipping subduction, arc magmatism, slab rollback, and convergence between Kunlun-Qaidam and North China continued throughout the Early Silurian, which were recorded in the Qilian Shan and Longshou Shan regions. Our updated geotectonic framework requires reevaluation of previously published paleogeographic models, including ones that suggest the North China craton was affixed to Gondwana in the early Paleozoic. It is further considered a possible connection between the North China and southern Africa at ca. 2.05 Ga.

Punctuated Orogeny During the Assembly of Asia: Tectonostratigraphic Evolution of the North China Craton and the Qilian Shan From the Paleoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic

Late Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Olongbuluke Terrane, northern Qaidam, China: Constraints from stratigraphy and detrital zircon geochronology

Reconstructing the Olongbuluke Terrane (northern Tibet) in the end-Neoproterozoic to Ordovician Indian margin of Gondwana

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Late Paleoproterozoic tectonic evolution of the Olongbuluke Terrane, northern Qaidam, China: Constraints from stratigraphy and detrital zircon geochronology

Reconstructing the Olongbuluke Terrane (northern Tibet) in the end-Neoproterozoic to Ordovician Indian margin of Gondwana