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Tracing the position of the South China block in Gondwana: U–Pb ages and Hf isotopes of Devonian detrital zircons

Liang Duan a,⁎, Qing-Ren Meng b, Cheng-Li Zhang a, Xiao-Ming Liu a

a State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, Shaanxi, Chinab Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o

 Article history:

Received 28 December 2009Received in revised form 3 May 2010

Accepted 4 May 2010

Available online 24 May 2010

Keywords:

South China block

Gondwana

Devonian

U–Pb age

Hf isotopes

Zircon

U–Pb detrital zircon geochronology from Lower Devonian quartz arenites of the northwestern margin of 

the Yangtze block yields dominant early Neoproterozoic (0.85–1.0 Ga), Pan-African (0.5–0.65 Ga) and

middle Neoproterozoic (0.68–0.8 Ga) age populations and minor Mesoproterozoic to middle Mesoarchean

(1.0–3.0 Ga) ages. Middle Mesoarchean to Mesoproterozoic rocks, however, are widespread in the South

China block. Although Hf isotopic compositions show both juvenile crustal growth and crustal reworking

for all the age groupings, the crust growth, essentially mantle-derived, occurred mainly around 3.1 Ga,

1.9 Ga and 1.0 Ga, respectively. Zircon typology and youngest grain ages indicate that this suite of 

quartz arenites was the product of multiphase reworking. Abundant magmatic zircon detritus with con-

cordant U–Pb Grenvillian and Pan-African ages, together with accompanying various ε Hf(t ) values, indicate

an exotic provenance for the quartz arenite external to the South China block. Qualitative comparisons of 

agespectra forthe late Neoproterozoic sedimentsof theCathaysian Block,earlyPaleozoic sedimentsof pre-

rift Tethyan Himalaya sequence in NorthIndia and lower Paleozoic sandstone from the Perth Basin in West

Australia, show that they all have two the largest age clusters representing Grenvillian and Pan-African

orogenic episodes. The resemblance of these age spectra and zircon typology suggests that the most likely

source for the Lower Devonian quartz arenites of the South China block was the East African Orogen and

Kuunga Orogen for their early Grenvillian and Pan-African populations, whereas the Hannan–Panxi arc,

 Jiangn an or ogen, and t he Yangtze block basemen ts mi ght have contrib uted to th e de trital zircon grains of the Neoproterozoic and Pre-Grenvillian ages. Hf isotopic data indicate that the crustal evolution of the

drainage area matches well with the episodic crust generation of Gondwana. These results imply that the

previously suggested position of the SCB in Gondwana should be re-evaluated, and the South China block

should be linked with North India and West Australia as a part of East Gondwana during the assembly of 

Gondwana, rather than a discrete continent block in the paleo-Pacific.

© 2010 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

U–Pb geochronology is a powerful technique for extracting source

information from detrital zircon grains (e.g. DeCelles et al., 2000;

DeGraaff-Surpless et al., 2002; Gehrels et al., 2003; DeCelles et al.,

2004, 2007; Leier et al., 2007; Dickinson and Gehrels, 2009). Zircon

also contains considerable amount of HfO2, which can be used as an

indicator of crustal residence and growth via Hf isotope analysis

(Hawkesworth and Kemp, 2006; Scherer et al., 2007). Therefore, the

combination of U–Pb and Hf isotope analysis of detrital zircons can

reveal the relative contributions of juvenile (directly mantle-derived)

crust versus recycled continental crust, making zircon a ‘one-stop

shop’ for assessing crustal evolution (Scherer et al., 2007).

The link between sedimentary maturity and detrital zircon ages is

not certain yet (Fedo et al., 2005), but samples of high-maturity

sediments are suitable for researching information for large regions.

Quartz arenites are characterized by super-mature texture and

composition and thus indicative of continental derivation for all the

units sampled (Fergusson et al., 2007). Quartz arenites consist almost

entirely of sand-sized monocrystalline quartz grains and other

resistant grains like chert, metaquartzite, and heavy minerals, such

as zircon (Prothero and Schwab, 2004). These characteristics of quartz

arenites show that they must have experienced long-term transpor-

tation and sedimentation, and thus serve as a proxy for unraveling

regional geological evolution (e.g. Sircombe et al., 2001; Gehrels et al.,

2002; Avigad et al., 2005; Zimmermann and Spalletti, 2009).

The history of supercontinents and their configuration have been

the focus of many investigations (e.g.: Hoffman, 1991; Condie, 1998;

Meert, 2001; Meert and Torsvik, 2003; Cawood et al., 2007; Meert and

Lieberman, 2008; Li et al., 2008a; Rino et al., 2008; Stern, 2008;

Gondwana Research 19 (2011) 141–149

⁎ Corresponding author.

E-mail address: duanliang1985@gmail.com (L. Duan).

1342-937X/$ – see front matter © 2010 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.05.005

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Gondwana Research

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Santosh et al., 2009a,b). Although some paleogeographic models were

advanced, the position of the South China block (SCB) in the

Gondwana supercontinent has been of considerable controversy

(Dalziel, 1997; Li and Powell, 2001; Cocks and Torsvik, 2002; Powell

and Pisarevsky, 2002; Yang et al., 2004; Li et al., 2008b; Yu et al.,

2008). For instance, it was inferred that the SCB was adjacent to the

western Antarctic–Australiaregion of Gondwana (Huang et al., 2000a;

Yang et al., 2004; Huang et al., 2008), most probably located close to

western Australia based on paleomagnetic analysis. Li and Powell(2001) and Li et al. (2008b), however, plotted the SCB as a discrete

plate in the paleo-Pacific, far away from the northeastern margin of 

East Gondwana. In practice, the SCB was omitted in many Precam-

brian paleogeographic reconstructions of the Gondwanaland (e.g.:

Dalziel, 1997; Boger et al., 2001; Powell and Pisarevsky, 2002; Cocks

and Torsvik, 2002; Collins and Pisarevsky, 2005).

This paper presents a study of detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology

and Hf isotope geochemistry of quartz arenites of the Lower Devonian

Pingyipu Formation in the northwestern margin of the Yangtze block,

and puts some constraints on their provenance and the evolution of 

the drainage area. Of importance is that the results also provide

insights into the positions of the SCB during the assembly of 

Gondwana.

2. Geological background

The South China block is bordered on the north by the North China

block, with the Qinling–Dabie orogen located in between (Fig. 1A, B)

(Meng and Zhang, 2000; Li et al., 2007). It is actually a composite

continental block formed by the assembly of the Yangtze and

Cathaysian blocks amalgamated through the Jiangnan orogen

(Fig. 1B), although the timing and evolution of the orogeny are still

controversial. Some researchers suggested that the Jiangnan orogen

belongs to part of the worldwide Grenvillian orogenic belts associated

with the assembly of Rodinia (e.g., Li et al., 1995, 2002b; Greentree

et al., 2006; Ye et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008b,c), whereas others

considered that the amalgamation lasted until ca. 820 Ma or evenyounger (e.g., Li, 1999; Zhao and Cawood, 1999; Zhou et al., 2002a,b;

Wang et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2006; Zheng et al., 2007; Wang et al.,

2007, 2008). The Yangtze block comprises a crystalline basement

overlain by Neoproterozoic to Middle Triassic marine sedimentary

sequences (Yan et al., 2004). The Cathaysian block, however, is

characterized by widespread distribution of Jurassic–Cretaceous

granites and Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous continental basins ( Ji

et al., 2009).

Geochronological studies show that Neoproterozoic magmatism,

ranging in ages from 830 to 740 Ma (e.g.: Zhou et al., 2002a,b; Li et al.,

2003a,b; Zheng et al., 2004; Li et al., 2005; Zheng et al., 2006a; Zhou et

al., 2006a,b; Zhu et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2006; Wu et al., 2007; Wang et

al., 2008; Li et al., 2008a,c), is widespread in the SCB, especially along

the Jiangnan orogen (e.g.: Li et al., 2003a,b, 2005; Wang et al., 2006;

Wu et al., 2006, 2007; Zhou et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008a,b; Wang et al.,

2008; Zhou et al., 2009) and at the western edge of the Yangtze block

(e.g., Li et al., 2002a,b; Zhou et al., 2002a,b, 2006a,b; Zhao and Zhou,

2007; Sun and Zhou, 2008; Munteanu et al., in press), which is often

Fig. 1. (A) Sketch map showing the main tectonic units of China; (B) Map showing the South China block consisting of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks, separated by a Jiangnan

orogen; (C) Simplified tectonic map of the northwestern margin of the Yangtze block and adjoining regions. NCB= North China block; SCB =South China block; HPA= Hannan–

Panxi arc; PM= Pengguan massif; HD =Hannan dome; FTB= fold-thrust belt.

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termed as the Hannan–Panxi arc (HPA) in the literature (Zhou et al.,

2002b) (Fig. 1B). The HPA was a Neoproterozoic continental arc, with

ages of igneous rocks from 860 to 740 Ma (Zhou et al., 2002a,b, 2006a,

b; Zhao and Zhou, 2007; Sun and Zhou, 2008; Sun et al., 2009 ). In

addition, the Archean (2.5–3.8 Ga) rocks and inherited zircons are

also found in the SCB (Qiu et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2006; Zhang et al.,

2006a,b,c; Zheng et al., 2006b). Abundant U–Pb ages and Hf isotopic

compositions of detrital zircons from the Neoproterozoic strata and

igneous zircons from the Archean basement suggested that thePrecambrian crustal growth of the Yangtze block is characterized by

obvious crustal additions between 3.2 and 3.8 Ga, and between 720

and 910 Ma, with a peak at 830 Ma (Liu et al., 2008). The basement

metamorphic rocks of the Cathaysian block, are dominantly of 

Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic ages (Yu et al., 2008), with the

oldest rocks in the eastern Cathaysian block being about 1.9 Ga (Gan

et al., 1995).

This study deals with Devonian rocks that arewell preservedin the

middle segment of the Longmenshan thrust belt at the northwestern

margin of the Yangtze block (Fig. 1C). The Longmenshan was a

sinistral wrench zones active in the Late Triassic (Burchfiel et al.,

1995; Worley and Wilson, 1996), and probably related to the

clockwise rotation of theSCB (Meng et al., 2005). The Lower Devonian

rests unconformably over the Middle Silurian phyllite, and can be

divided into the Pingyipu, Guixi and Yangmaba formations from

bottom upward. The Pingyipu Formation is composed primarily of 

quartz arenite, greywacke, siltstone, mudstone and shale, as inter-

preted as coastal deposits (Chen 2007; Zheng et al., 1997), and its age

is assigned mainly on the basis of marine fossils, (Zheng et al., 1997).

∼5 kg quartz arenites were sampled from a succession cropping out

near Guixi village in the northern Sichuan province (N:31°58′39.3″, E:

104°38′34.1″; Fig. 1C). Given the high specific gravity of zircon (4.65),

as compared to quartz (2.65), hydraulically equivalent zircon is

expected to be approximately one sand grade finer than accompa-

nying quartz grains (Komar, 2007; Dickinson and Gehrels, 2009).

Accordingly, samples of medium-grained quartzose arenites were

chosen.

3. Analytical methods

Zircon crystals were extracted from samples by standard density

and magnetic separation techniques and then purified by hand

picking under a binocular microscope, and N1000 zircon grains

recovered. Representative zircon grains were handpicked and

mounted in epoxy resin discs, then polished and coated with gold.

All analyzed zircon grains were documented using cathodolumines-

cence (CL) images for internal morphology prior to analyses, which

were acquired with a Mono CL3+ (Gatan, USA) attached to a scanning

electron microscope (Quanta 400 FEG). Before analysis, the surface

was cleaned using dilute HNO3 (3%, v/v) and pure alcohol to remove

any lead contamination. CL imaging, U–Pb dating and Hf isotope

analysis were carried out in the State Key Laboratory of Continental

Dynamics, Northwest University, Xi'an.

 3.1. U –Pb dating 

U–Pb geochronology of  ∼100 individual zircon grains was

conducted by laser-ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spec-

trometry (LA-ICP-MS). The ICP-MS used is a Varian 820-MS (Varian,

Inc., USA), and the analyses involve ablation of zircon with the GeoLas

2005 laser-ablation system (MicroLasTM Beam Delivery Systems,

Lambda Physik AG, Germany) (operating at a wavelength of 

193 nm) using a spot diameter of 44 μ m. In this technique, zircons

are sampled using a focused UV laser, and the ablated microparticu-

late material is transferred in a continuous flow of helium to an ICP-

MS for isotopic quantification. The used laser frequency was 10 Hz.

Raw count rates were measured for29

Si,204

Pb,206

Pb,207

Pb,208

Pb,

232Th and 238U. U, Th and Pb concentrations were calibrated by using29Si as an internal standard and NIST 610 as the reference standard.207Pb/206Pb, 206Pb/238U, 207Pb/235U and 208Pb/232Th ratios, and then

calculated using the GLITTER 4.0 program (Macquarie University).

Finally they were corrected for both instrumental mass bias and

depth-dependent elemental and isotopic fractionation using Harvard

zircon 91500 as external standard. The detailed analytical technique

refers to Yuan et al. (2004). Age calculations and plotting of concordia

diagrams were made using ISOPLOT 3.0 (Ludwig, 2003) for resultswith 1σ  errors. Our measurements of GJ-01 as an unknown yielded

weighted 206Pb/238U ages of 603.0±5.5 Ma (MSWD=0.16, n=11),

which is in good agreement with the recommended ID-TIMS 206Pb/238U ages ( Jackson et al., 2004). Because the 204Pb isotope cannot be

precisely measured with this technique, due to a combination of low

signal and interference from small amounts of  204Hg in the Ar gas

supply, common-Pb contents were calculated using the method

described by Andersen (2002). In most cases, the samples analyzed in

this study did not need correction or the common-Pb correction was

insignificant.

 3.2. Lu–Hf isotope analysis

In-situ zircon Hf isotopic analyses were conducted using a Nu

Plasma HR MC-ICP-MS (Nu Instruments Ltd., UK), coupled to a GeoLas

2005 excimer ArF laser-ablation system. In this study, we use

technique of simultaneous determinations of U–Pb age, Hf isotopes

and traceelement compositions of zircon by combining excimer laser-

ablation quadruple and multiple collector ICP-MS, where age, Lu–Hf 

isotopic and trace element data were collected simultaneously from

the same spot of zircon (Yuan et al., 2008). During analyses, the

energy density applied is 15–20 J/cm2 and spot sizes of 44 μ m, with a

laser repetition rate of 10 Hz, were used. The detailed analytical

technique was described by Yuan et al. (2008). Raw count rates for172Yb, 173Yb, 175Lu, 176(Hf+Yb+Lu), 177Hf, 178Hf, 179Hf, 180Hf and182 W were collected. Interference of 176Lu on 176Hf was corrected by

measuring the intensity of the interference-free 175Lu isotope and

using the recommended 176Lu/175Lu ratio of 0.02655 (Chu et al.,

2002). A 176Yb/172Yb of 0.5887 and mean β Yb obtained during Hf analysis were applied for the interference correction of 176Yb on 176Hf 

(Iizuka and Hirata, 2005). During analyses, Harvard zircon 91500 was

used as the reference standard, the obtained 176Hf/177Hf ratio was

0.282304±14 (2σ , n =19), similar to the recommended 176Hf/177Hf 

ratio of 0.282306±10 measured using the solution method (Wood-

head et al., 2004). The measured176Lu/177Hf ratiosand the176Lu decay

constant of 1.867× 10−11 yr−1 reported by Soderlund et al. (2004)

were adopted to calculate initial 176Hf/177Hf ratios. The chondritic

values of  176Hf/177Hf and 176Lu/177Hf reported by Bichert-Toft and

Albarède (1997) were used for the calculation of  ε Hf  values. Single-

stage model ages (T DM1) were calculated relative to the depleted

mantle with a present-day (176Lu/177Hf)DM=0.0384 and (176Hf/177Hf)DM=0.28325 (Grif fin et al., 2000); two-stage continental

model age (T DMC ) was also calculated by projecting the initial 176Hf/177Hf of zircon back to the depleted mantle growth curve using 176Lu/177Hf=0.015 for the average continental crust (Grif fin et al., 2000;

Yang et al., 2006). The notations of  ε Hf(t ), f Lu/Hf , T DM1 and T DM

C are

defined as same as those in Yang et al. (2006).

4. Results

Zircons extracted from the sample are light yellow to colorless,

rounded or prismatic with rounded edges, and moderately to highly

spherical, generally rounded fragments of larger crystals, suggesting a

long-distance transport and multiphase reworking (Fig. 2). The

internal structure of these detrital zircons varies from strong

oscillatory zoning to almost homogeneous, being always faint and

weak in CL images (Fig. 2). These variable internal structures suggest

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several different origins. The majority of the zircons have Th/U N0.3,

indicating an igneous origin (Hanchar and Hoskin, 2003), and few

grainsshow typical metamorphic Th/U ratio below 0.1. Theresults are

consistent with the CL images predominated by oscillatory zoning

typical of igneous origin and irregular sector zoned domains of 

metamorphic zircons. Grains with Pan-African and Grenvillian age

(Fig. 2A, B, E, F) are moderately to highly spherical. Grains with ages

from 830 to 740 Ma (Fig. 2C, D) show sub-angular or sub-rounded

edges, implying relative close provenance. Pre-Grenvillian grains

(Fig. 2G, H) are rounded to prismatic and show strong oscillatory

zoning or homogeneous internal structureindicating different origins.

4.1. Zircon U –Pb geochronology

Concordia and frequencydistribution plots of U–Pb geochronologyof the sample are presented in Figs. 3 and 4. Analyses that were N10%

discordant (by comparison of 206Pb/238Uand 206Pb/207Pb ages) are not

considered or discussed further (81 grain ages retained). We use207Pb/206Pb ages of  N1.0 Ga zircons and 206Pb/238U ages of  b1.0 Ga

zircons, and apply the same approach to the compilation of ages from

other studies for comparison (except for ages in Tethyan Himalaya

from Gehrels et al. (2003)). A complete list of the U–Pb ages and Hf 

isotopic data is presented in the Supplementary Data table.

The majority of the grains from our sample are clustered in the

following time intervals: ca. 500–650 Ma, ca. 680–800 Ma and ca.

850–1000 Ma. The age distribution exhibits a typical Gondwana

signature (Fig. 4), with the clusters mainly at ca. 975 Ma and ca.

552 Ma. Zircons with age N1.0 Ga are widely distributed, though their

contributions are sparse. The youngest zircon yields a 206Pb/238U age

of 507±9 Ma. The interval between the youngest zircon crystalliza-

tion age and the depositional age constrained by fossils are indicative

of slow erosion of the source rocks and long-distance transport.

4.2. Hf isotope geochemistry

Zircon laser-ablated Hf isotope geochemical data are presented

graphically in Fig. 5. The ε Hf(t ) values exhibit a wide range fromnegative to positive (−49.8 to 16.1), with 176Hf/177Hf ratios varying

from 0.280658 to 0.282648. Few zircons have an Hf isotope

composition indicative of their origin from a depleted mantle

(Fig. 5), suggesting that the magmas from which most zircons formed

were derived by melting pre-existing, rather than juvenile, crustal

rocks. Of importance, several zircons with the ages of 2.8 Ga, 1.8 Ga,

and 1.0 Ga show values similar to the depleted mantle, and the two-

stage continental model ages (T DMC ) ofthetwograins withU–Pbageof 

2.8 Ga and 1.8 Ga, are 3.1 Ga and 1.9 Ga, indicating the occurrence of 

 juvenile crustal addition at 3.1 Ga and 1.9 Ga.

5. Discussion

5.1. Sources of detrital zircons

Assemblies of the Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents were

completed during the Grenvillian and Pan-African orogenic episodes,

and the two orogenic events were well recorded around East

Gondwana. However, the event related to Pan-African orogenesis in

the SBC was rarely reported. The existence of a Grenvillian orogenic

belt in the South China block is equivocal. Li et al. (1995, 1997, 2002b)

considered the Jiangnan orogen as a typical Grenvillian orogenic belt,

but granitoids or high-grade metamorphic rocks with Grenville ages

are absent in that region. Furthermore, metamorphic ages of the

zircon rims provided by Li et al. (2002b) cannot be regarded as

compelling geochronological evidence for the Grenvillian continental

collision (Wang et al., 2007). Although several lines of evidence

suggest that the Grenvillian high-grade metamorphism occurred

Fig. 2. CL images of representative detrital zircon grains. The results are marked using a circle with ages. Scale bar in each image is 50 µm.

Fig. 3. U–Pb concordia plots of single zircon grains from the Early Devonian quartz

arenites in thenorthwestern marginof theYangtze block.Insetwas theenlargedplot of 

the ages between 0.4 and 1.2 Ga.

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along the northern to western edges of the Yangtze block (e.g.: Qiu et

al., 2000; Xu et al., 2004; Zheng et al., 2006b), the sparse distribution

and rounded and moderately to highly spherical nature of larger

zircon crystals (Fig. 2) preclude those regions as a major source. In

addition, the age distribution of studied detrital zircons is inconsistent

with those of the Yangtze block, which are characterized by

predominant age groups between 720 Ma and 910 Ma, with a peak

at 830 Ma (Liu et al., 2008) (Fig. 4). In contrast, we propose that the

Neoproterozoic grains (680–800 Ma) were probably derived from the

 Jiangnan orogen or the Hannan–Panxi arc. The reason is that the

zircon grains with ages in this range are sub-angular or sub-rounded

(Fig. 2), implying that their sources must have been nearby. Pre-

Grenvillian detrital zircons older than 1.0 Ga show various internal

structures from strong oscillatory zoning to almost homogeneous, and

different typologies from prismatic with rounded edges to moderately

or highly spherical (Fig. 2). In addition, their distribution does not

match the dispersal of Pre-Grenvillian grains in the Yangtze block.

These characters suggest that zircons in this group have different

origins. As a result, it is considered that the detrital zircons from the

Lower Devonian in the northwestern margin of the Yangtze blockwere only partially derived from the SBC, and their main sources

should be exotic to the SCB.

5.2. Position of the SBC 

It is known that Early Palaeozoic shallow marine fauna of the SBC

have close af finities with those of eastern Gondwanaland, especially

Australian Gondwanaland (Burrett, 1973; Burrett and Stait, 1985;

Metcalfe, 1988; in press; Burrett et al., 1990), and belong to the Asia-

Australian and Austral realms in the Cambrian and Ordovician,

respectively (Li, 1994; Yang, 1994). However, the position of the

SCB in the Neoproterozoic–Early Palaeozoic is still under debate. A

preliminary Early Ordovician pole was obtained from the SCB, which

placesthe SCB in an intermediatepaleolatitude compared with Baltica

Fig. 4. Detrital zircon U–Pb age relative probability diagrams plotted for comparison, with the data from this study and others, including: Yu et al. (2008) for Cathaysian Block;

Cawood and Nemchin (2000) forPerthBasinin West Australia; DeCelles et al.(2000), Gehrels et al.(2003) and Myrow et al.(2003) for Tethyan Himalaya; Qiuet al.(2000), Zhang et

al. (2006a), Zheng et al. (2006a) and Li et al. (2008) for the Yangtze craton. Uniform standard (207Pb/206Pb ages for zircons of ages N1.0 Ga and 206Pb/238U ages for zircons of age

b1.0 Ga) is used in data compilation except for ages from Gehrels et al. (2003) for Tethyan Himalaya. Note that the data used for comparison are only extracted from the early

Paleozoic and late Neoproterozoic strata.

Fig. 5. Plots of ε Hf(t ) value versus U–Pb age for detrital zircons of this study. Gray fields

show evolution of typical zircons (with a 176Lu/177Hf ratio of 0.0015) with depleted

mantle model ages between 500 and 1000 Ma, 1500 and 2000 Ma, and 2500 and

3000 Ma.

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(Fang et al., 1990). Based on the comparison of the Sinian–Cambrian

paleomagnetic records from South China with the counterparts from

Australia, Zhang and Piper (1997), however, suggested that the SCB

should be located immediately to northwestern Australia during the

early Paleozoic. Taking into account the documented late Proterozoic

and Silurian poles of the Yangtze Block (Evans et al., 2000; Huang

et al., 2000b), Yang et al. (2004) inferred that the SCB was most likely

located close to western Australia. Macouin et al. (2004) reached a

similar conclusion by measuring the paleomagnetic records of LateNeoproterozoic Nantuo tillite and overlying Doushantuo carbonates,

plotting the SCB close to the equator at the west side of Australia. By

means of paleomagnetic results from the central Yangtze block and

comparisons of Precambrian sequences between the SCB and

Australia (Li et al., 1995, 1996, 2004), Li et al. (2001, 2008b), however,

argued that the SCB was a discrete continent block in the paleo-Pacific

during the assembly of Gondwana. They proposed that the SBC was

originally located between eastern Australia and Laurentia, and linked

with them during the assembly of Rodinia. Some geochronological

and geochemical studies of Neoproterozoic arc-magmatism along the

western margin of the Yangtze block appear to support the idea that

the SCB might have been an isolated continent in Neoproterozoic

(Zhou et al., 2002b). If this paleogeographic reconstruction was

correct, the SCB must have separated from Rodinia by Early Cambrian

times, and could not be a component of Early Palaeozoic Gondwana-

land (Metcalfe, 2006). This might be the reason why the SCB was

usually omitted from paleogeographic reconstructions of Gondwana-

land (e.g.: Dalziel, 1997; Boger et al., 2001; Powell and Pisarevsky,

2002; Cocks and Torsvik, 2002; Collins and Pisarevsky, 2005).

Our discovery of abundant magmatic zircon detritus, of Grenvillian

and Pan-African ages indicating a typical Gondwana signature, is

contrary to the previous paleogeographic reconstruction of the

Gondwanaland supercontinent depicting the SCB as a discrete

continental block in the Paleo-Pacific, far away from the northeastern

margin of East Gondwana. Our result is supported by qualitative

comparisons of detrital zircon age spectra of this study with those of 

late Neoproterozoic sediments from the southern Cathaysian block, of 

early Paleozoic sediments in pre-rift Tethyan Himalaya sequence, and

of Ordovician sandstone from the Perth Basin in West Australia. They

all have two major age clusters representing Grenvillian and Pan-

African orogenic episodes, and show conspicuous similarity (Fig. 4).In

addition, all the peak values of Grenvillian age in these distributions

are less than 1.0 Ga, much younger than those reported in other

regions, such as the Albany–Fraser Belt in Australia and Maud

Province in West Antarctica (Fitzsimons, 2000a,b; Meert, 2003a,b).

The difference between these age spectra was the age group ranging

from 800 Ma to 680 Ma in the SCB, which might be due to a

contribution from widespread Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks bothin the Jiangnan orogen and the Hannan–Panxi arc. The close age

spectra af finities suggest a connection of the SCB with the Himalaya

region in North India and with West Australia during the assembly of 

the East Gondwana (Fig. 6), and thus the SCB should be a part of East

Gondwana rather than far away from it. It is suggested that the most

likelysource of theGrenvillianand Pan-African agezircons in thewest

margin of the Yangtze block is the East African orogen, which was

uplifted during Neoproterozoic time (Dalziel, 1997) and provided the

detritus of equivalent zircons in the Tethyan Himalaya (DeCelles et al.,

2000), and Kuunga orogen (Fig. 6). The Kuunga orogen was

constituted mostly by Northern Prince Charles Mountains (NPCM)

in Antarctica, Eastern Ghats (EG) in India and some Pan-African

mobile belts (Meert, 2003a,b; Cawood and Buchan, 2007) and

behaved as a major source of the equivalent zircons in the Cathaysian

Block (Yu et al., 2008). The NPCM and EG have dominant age groups

from 990 Ma to 950 Ma (Mezger and Cosca, 1999; Fitzsimons, 2000a),

which is consistent with the peak values of the Grenvillian age groups

of our study area.

The localization of early Paleozoic SCB adjacent to the Himalaya

and West Australian region is consistent with the majority of 

paleomagnetic data, which places the SCB in southern paleolatitudes

and close to the equator in the early Palaeozoic ( Lin et al., 1985;

Burrett et al., 1990; Zhao et al., 1996; Huang et al., 2000b), indicating a

long-term connection between the SCB and West Australia (Zhang

and Piper, 1997; Yang et al, 2004; Macouin et al., 2004). Similarly, Zhu

et al. (1998) and Huang et al. (2000a, 2008) suggested that the SCB

might be close to West Australia or as a part of Gondwana in the

Cambrian on the basis of paleomagnetic data. A study of the latest

Neoproterozoic rocks in the Lesser Himalaya of northwestern India

Fig. 6. Restored position of the South China block in Gondwana. The Gondwana reconstruction is after DeCelles et al. (2000) and Boger et al. (2001) . Arrow denotes transport

direction of detritus from East African orogen where 650–550 Ma ages dominate (Fitzsimons, 2000a,b; Kröner et al., 2000; Yibas et al., 2002; Collins et al., 2003a,b), and Kuunga

orogen where 990–950 Ma and 600–500 Ma ages dominate (Mezger and Cosca, 1999; Fitzsimons, 2000a,b). Because the geometry of past plate was modified inevitably during later

rotation, accretion, collision and plate inter-actions, the SCB in Early Paleozoic is represented using dashed line. See text for detailed discussion.

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and the SCB also reveals remarkably similar facies assemblages and

carbonate platform systems ( Jiang et al., 2003). These similarities

suggest that the SCB might have been located close to northwestern

India during late Neoproterozoic time ( Jiang et al, 2003). Based on

faunal af finities and stratigraphic comparisons, Burrett et al. (1990),

Nie (1991) and Metcalfe (1996a,b) considered that the SCB might

have had its origin on the Himalaya region of the Gondwanaland

margin. Our Hf isotopic data support this idea, which indicate that the

crust evolution in drainage area was characterized by juvenile crustaladdition at 1.9 Ga and 3.1 Ga, respectively, and was followed by long-

term melting of pre-existing crustal rocks (Fig. 5). Crustal evolution of 

the drainage area might be related to episodic crustal generation of 

Gondwana around 1.9 and 3.3 Gyr ago, and then reworked repeatedly

(Kemp et al., 2006). Our U–Pb geochronological and Hf geochemical

data provide a new piece of evidence that demonstrates the

connection of the South China block with the Gondwana, and

therefore clarify the previous conflicting paleomagnetic results.

6. Conclusions

U–Pb ages of detrital zircons from Early Devonian quartz arenites

of the northwestern margin of the Yangtze block reveal three major

age groups: 0.85–

1.0 Ga (early Neoproterozoic), 680–

800 Ma, and650–500 Ma (Pan-African) together with some minor but widely

distributed Pre-Grenvillian populations. It is suggested that both early

Neoproterozoic and Pan-African detrital zircons of Lower Devonian

quartz arenites most likely came from the East African Orogen and

Kuunga Orogen, whereas the Jiangnan orogen, the Hannan–Panxi arc

and the Yangtze block basements might be the sources of the

Neoproterozoic and some pre-Grenvillian detrital zircons. Although

Hf isotopic compositions show both juvenile crustal growth and

crustal reworking for all age groupings, crustal growth of the drainage

areas, essentially mantle-derived, mainly occurred around 3.1 Ga,

1.9 Ga and 1.0 Ga, and was followed by the repeated melting of pre-

existing crust rocks. Qualitative comparisons of age spectra of detrital

zircons of this study with other investigations show that they all have

the two largest age clusters, Grenvillian and Pan-African orogenic

episodes. The Hf isotopic data also indicate that the crust evolution of 

drainage area is comparable with the episodic crust generation of 

Gondwana. All these results suggest that the SCB should be linked

with North India and Western Australia during the assembly of East

Gondwana, challenging the previous view that envisaged the SCB as a

separate continental block.

 Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the China Nature

Science Foundation (grant 40830314) and the Northwest University

Graduate Innovation and Creativity Funds (grant 08YZZ51). Ian

Metcalfe and an anonymous reviewer are thanked for their construc-

tive comments and suggestions that led to considerable improvement

of the paper. We also thank Lu Sun and Hujun Gong for the

preparation of CL images of detrital zircons, and Ben Lee, Lei Kang,

Guofen He, Jing Xu, Mengning Dai and Chunrong Diwu for their lab

support.

 Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in

the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.05.005.

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