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
Tethys Ocean pushing the floor of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean under the eastern end of northern Pangaea (i.e.Laurasia). The Tethys Ocean formed between Cimmeria and Gondwana, directly over where the Paleo-Tethys used to be. During the Jurassic period about 150 Mya, Cimmeria finally collided with Laurasia and stalled, so the ocean floor behind it buckled under, forming the Tethyan Trench. Water levels rose, and the western Tethys shallowly covered significant portions of Europe, forming the first Tethys Sea. Around the same time, Laurasia and Gondwana began drifting apart, opening an extension of the Tethys Sea between them which today is the part of