South China (continent) South China (continent) South China, also known as South China Craton, South Chinese Craton, or Yangtze Craton, was an ancient continent (craton) that contained today's South and Southeast China, Indochina, and parts of Southeast Asia (i.e. Borneo and adjacent islands). South China had been part of past supercontinents, including Rodinia, Pannotia, Gondwana, Pangaea and Laurasia. About one billion years ago, during the late Proterozoic, the Rodinia supercontinent formed. South China was part of Rodinia. South China was bordered by the Mirovia Ocean to the north, Siberia to the east, Australia to the west, and Laurentia to the south. 750 million
South China (continent) Ocean. By the Late Carboniferous (300 million years ago), while North China collided with Siberia and Kazakhstania, completely closing the Proto-Tethys Ocean, South China became an independent continent. For much of the Permian Period, South China remained in the tropical latitudes. And also, while most of the giant lycopods of the Carboniferous disappeared, giant lycopods remained in South China, since its isolation from the now formed Pangaea. Cimmeria, a microcontinent that consisted of today's Tibet, Iran, Turkey, and parts of Southeast Asia rifted away from Gondwana (just as North and South China did earlier), and was heading towards Laurasia. Paleo-Tethys