Supercontinents in Earth History

Geochronology and geochemical characteristics of Late Triassic porphyritic rocks from the Zhongdian arc, eastern Tibet, and their tectonic and metallogenic implications

“…1a and b; Dewey et al, 1988;Hou, 1993;Hou and Mo, 1993;Yin and Harrison, 2000;Rogers and Santosh, 2003;Zhang and Santosh, 2012;Zheng et al, 2013;Zhu et al, 2013). The Yidun block is bound by the Garze-Litang suture to the east and the Jinsha suture to the west, and these sutures separate the Yidun block from the Songpan-Ganzi arc and Yangtze Craton in the east, and from the Qiangtang block in the west Chang, 2000;Wang et al, 2000;Zhong, 2000;Roger et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2013) (Fig.…”

Where was the Ailaoshan Ocean and when did it open: A perspective based on detrital zircon U–Pb age and Hf isotope evidence

“…These blocks are usually regarded to have been derived from the northwestern Gondwana margin as three successive strips of continental blocks separated during the Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic. These blocks then travelled north to amalgamate progressively during the Late Paleozoic to Cenozoic along the southern Eurasia margin (Metcalfe, 1996(Metcalfe, , 2002Rogers and Santosh, 2003;Metcalfe, 2006Metcalfe, , 2011Metcalfe, , 2013Q.F. Wang et al, 2014;Zaw et al, 2014).…”

“…Wang et al, 2014;Zaw et al, 2014). This has resulted in the consecutive opening and closure of three Tethyan oceans, namely the Paleo-Tethys, Meso-Tethys and Neo-Tethys (Rogers and Santosh, 2003;Metcalfe, 2011Metcalfe, , 2013, among which the Paleo-Tethys is the most enigmatic.…”

Breaking supercontinents; no need to choose between passive or active

“…The geologic record provides evidence that continents are assembled into larger supercontinents and subsequently broken apart in a cyclical manner (e.g. Wilson, 1966;Bleeker, 2003;Rogers and Santosh, 2003;Bradley, 2011). The source of the force that "breaks" a continent is of particular interest and continues to be actively studied (Gao et al, 2013;Buiter and Torsvik, 2014;Koptev et al, 2015).…”