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
Mesozoic nearly their present forms, though not their present positions. Laurasia became North America and Eurasia, while Gondwana split into South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and the Indian subcontinent, which collided with the Asian plate during the Cenozoic, giving rise to the Himalayas. The Triassic was generally dry, a trend that began in the late Carboniferous, and highly seasonal, especially in the interior of Pangaea. Low sea levels may have also exacerbated temperature extremes. With its high specific heat capacity, water acts as a temperature-stabilizing heat reservoir, and land areas near large bodies of water—especially oceans—experience less variation in temperature. Because