A Mediterranean-style model for early Neoproterozoic amalgamation of South China

Abstract

A Mediterranean-style model is proposed for early Neoproterozoic amalgamation of South China, based on recognition of the Guangxi promontory on the southeastern margin of the Yangtze craton through a synthesis of geologic, geophysical and chronological data. The model suggests that, while the Guangxi promontory collided with the overriding Cathaysia terrane along the Yunkai orogeny during the earliest Neoproterozoic, the convergence between the Yangtze craton and the Cathaysia terrane paused or slowed down, which triggered the upper Rhine Graben-style Kangdian impact rift along the western Yangtze margin and resulted in roll-back of the oceanic slab trapped in the embayments and sequential formation of backarc rifts in the Cathaysia margin during the early Neoproterozoic. This model predicts a complex diachronous Yangtze–Cathaysia collision history, first at the Guangxi promontory at ∼1000Ma and finally at the Guizhou reentrant at ∼830Ma.