Nature and Evolution of Pre-Neoproterozoic Continental Crust in South China: A Review and Tectonic Implications

South China as an amalgamation of the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks is composed of Archean to Mesoproterozoic basement overlain by Neoproterozoic and younger cover. Both the constituent Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks contain well-preserved Neoproterozoic rocks that have been extensively studied in terms of the age and tectonic nature, but less is known about their earlier crustal history due to the incomplete rock record. Recent efforts in investigating the yet survived crustal nature based on isotopic and elemental signatures preserved in igneous and sedimentary rocks have steadily improved our knowledge about the pre-Neoproterozoic continental crustal evolution in South China. In this paper, we summarize the up-to-date pre-Neoproterozoic records, including petrological, geochronological, geochemical and geophysical data, across South China, and discuss its spatiotemporal patterns of the pre-Neoproterozoic crust and the relevant tectonic events. While the xenocrystic/inherited and detrital zircon records suggest widespread Archean(mainly ca. 2.5 Ga) crustal components within both the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks, exposed Archean rocks are only limited to isolated crustal provinces in the Yangtze Block. These Archean rocks are dominated by TTGs(tonalite-trondhjemitegranodiorite) with varied ages(3.3–2.5 Ga) and zircon Hf isotopes, indicating a compositionally heterogeneous nature of the Archean Yangtze Block and, by inference, the development of multiple ancient terranes. The early Paleoproterozoic(2.4–2.2 Ga) tectonomagmatic events characterize the western Yangtze Block and are supportive of an east-west subdivision of the Yangtze basement, whereas the late Paleoproterozoic(2.1–1.7 Ga) orogeneses may have affected a larger area covering both the western and eastern parts of the Yangtze Block, and also the Cathaysia Block. The eastern Yangtze Block with generally northeastward-younging late Paleoproterozoic magmatism and metamorphism likely experienced a prolonged 2.05–1.75 Ga orogenic process welding the various Archean proto-continents, consistent with the documentation of a buried late Paleoproterozoic orogenic belt imaged by deep seismic profiling from its central part and of a slightly older ophiolitic mélange in the northern part. The Cathaysia Block was probably involved in a short-lived 1.9–1.8 Ga orogenic event. The two orogeneses overlapped in time and may have contributed to the cratonization of a possible unified South China, and are referred to be linked with the assembly of the Nuna Supercontinent. The subsequent late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic rift successions and intrusions(1.7–1.5 Ga) in the southwestern Yangtze Block, and the ca. 1.43 Ga rifting in Hainan Island of the Cathaysia Block could be responses to the Nuna break-up. Late Mesoproterozoic(1.2–1.0 Ga) magmatism of varied age and nature in different localities of the Yangtze Block is reflective of a complex tectonic process in the context of the assembly of the Rodinia Supercontinent. Similar-aged metamorphism(1.3–1.0 Ga) is recorded in Hainan Island, reflecting the Grenvillian continental collision during the Rodinia assembly, but further studies are necessar y to better constrain the late Mesoproterozoic tectonic framework of South China.