South China's Gondwana connection in the Paleozoic: Paleomagnetic evidence *

Abstract

Abstract The reconstruction in which the South China Block (SCB) lies along the Great India-Australia region of Gondwana margin is tested by using existing Paleozoic paleomagnetic data. Under the proposed reconstruction, all six high quality paleopoles from the SCB between the Early Cambrian and late Early Devonian (∼400 Ma) are in good agreement with coeval paleopoles from Gondwana. Thereafter, the apparent polar wander paths for the SCB and Gondwana diverge markedly. This indicates that the SCB had been part of Gondwana and the connection was intact from at least Early Cambrian until late Early Devonian, but they began to separate by late Middle Devonian (∼375Ma).