The South China Block was built up by the assembly of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks along the Neoproterozoic Jiangnan Orogenic Belt. The timing of the Jiangnan Orogeny remains controversial. The widespread orogeny-related Neoproterozoic angular unconformity that separates the underlying folded Sibao (ca.1000-820 Ma) and overlying Danzhou (ca.800-720 Ma) Groups was investigated. Six sedimentary samples, below and above the unconformity in three distal localities (Fanjingshan, Madiyi, and Sibao) yield detrital zircon with U-Pb ages ranging from 779±16 Ma to 3006±36 Ma, with a prominent peak at ca. 852 Ma. The youngest ages of 832±11 Ma and 779±16 Ma are revealed for the underlying Sibao and overlying Danzhou Groups, respectively. The detrital zircon U-Pb age relative probability plot of the Jiangnan Orogen matches well with those of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks since ca. 865 Ma. Integrating geological, geochemical and geochronological results, we suggest that the Paleo-South China Ocean began to subduct under the Yangtze block at ca. 1000 Ma, and was partly closed at ca. 865 Ma. Afterwards, the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks initially collide at 865 Ma, forming the Jiangnan Orogen. This collision resulted in not only the folding of the Sibao Group, but also sediment deposition in a syn-collisional setting, which makes the upper part of the Sibao

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The South China Craton comprises the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks and is one of the largest Precambrian continental blocks in East Asia. However, the early geological and geographical evolution of the Cathaysia block is relatively poorly understood, due to the sparse exposure of pre-Neoproterozoic rocks and reworking during Phanerozoic polyphase magmatism and metamorphism. In this contribution, we carried out detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and sedimentary analyses on five Proterozoic meta-sedimentary rocks collected from the northeastern Cathaysia block, which belong to the previously defined Chencai, Mayuan, and Mamianshan Groups (strata). LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating results of the detrital zircons show various ~1.85–1.35 Ga maximum depositional ages. They are significantly older than the previously constrained Neoproterozoic formation ages of these Proterozoic strata of northeastern Cathaysia, suggesting that their deposition and formation were probably initiated as early as the late Paleoproterozoic. Provenance analyses reveal that the late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons with igneous-origin were derived from in situ contemporary crystalline basements in eastern Cathaysia. In addition, by implication, the easternmost part of Cathaysia was probably an emerged area (i.e., the “proto-Cathaysia Land”) under active erosion. It had a ~NWW orientation and provided detrital sediments to the neighboring marine basin (i.e., the Cathaysia Sea) during the late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic. Finally, the Paleoproterozoic evolution of Cathaysia was involved in the assembly of the Nuna supercontinent. Our results, together with the published data, reveal a distinct late Paleoproterozoic (~1.8 Ga) detrital zircon age peak, which seems to support the view that eastern Cathaysia had close tectonic affinities with terranes such as the Precambrian terranes of current northern India, in the framework of the Nuna supercontinent reconstruction.