South China Craton

The South China Craton, also called the South China Block, is one of several Precambrian continental blocks in China, traditionally divided into the Yangtze Block in the northwest and the Cathaysia Block in the southeast, separated by the Jiangshan-Shaoxing Fault. Its oldest rocks, found in the Kongling Complex, have been dated to between 3.3 and 2.9 billion years old by zircon dating. The craton is significant for hosting major rare earth element ore deposits, for having formed part of the ancient supercontinent Rodinia, and for preserving in its Triassic marine strata almost all major known clades of Triassic marine reptiles, making it valuable for studying ecosystem recovery after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction.