SHRIMP U–Pb zircon geochronological and geochemical evidence for Neoproterozoic arc-magmatism along the western margin of the Yangtze Block, South China

Zircon U-Pb geochronology and heavy mineral composition constraints on the provenance of the middle Miocene deep-water reservoir sedimentary rocks in the Yinggehai-Song Hong Basin, South China Sea

“…South China, including the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks, was presumably part of the Precambrian supercontinent-Rodinia (Li et al, 1995;Zhou et al, 2002). The Yangtze Block is separated from the North China Craton by the Qinling-Dabie orogenic belt to the north and is bounded on the west and south by the Tibetan Plateau and Indochina Block, respectively.…”

“…Archean and Proterozoic basement rocks have been recognized in southern Yangtze Block with zircon U-Pb ages at 2800e2300 Ma and 1700e2100 Ma (Qiu et al, 2000;Metcalfe, 2006;Zheng et al, 2006). Neoproterozoic magmatism (1000e700 Ma), including granites, volcanic rocks and ophiolites, occurred sporadically around the Yangtze Block (Li, 1999;Zhou et al, 2002Zhou et al, , 2006Xiao et al, 2007;Ye et al, 2007), which probably produced by the pre-breakup of Rodinia and subsequent migration of South China (Zhou et al, 2002;. U-Pb ages of Late Paleozoic igneous rocks in the Youjiang Basin and Song Chay Massif (Fig.…”

An 850–820Ma LIP dismembered during breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent and destroyed by Early Paleozoic continental subduction in the northern Tibetan Plateau, NW China

“…Alternatively, Zhou et al (2002Zhou et al ( , 2006a and Wang et al (2007) speculated that the magmatism of this period was formed in an active continental margin or a collisional orogen around the Yangtze Craton.…”

Position of South China in configuration of Neoproterozoic supercontinent

“…In dynamic models of reconstructing the Rodinia assemblage and breakup on the basis of global paleomagnetic data, Powell et al [7] placed South China in northeast of Australia and thus remote east of India; Meert and Torsvik [8,9] placed South China in northeast of Australia and northwest of Laurentia, interjacent between two transform faults in its southeast and southwest. Geochemical studies of Zhou et al [10,11] suggest that Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks in the western and northwestern margins of the South China block resemble metaigneous complexes occurring along Seychelles to Madagascar in Indian Ocean and Malani in India [12] , having the origin of island arc for some of them. For this reason, Yan et al [13] suggested that South China was adjacent to India during the Neoproterozoic, but Li et al [14] argued that it is problematic to interpret as the arc magmatism the Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks in the western and northwestern margins of the South China Block.…”