Configuration of Columbia, a Mesoproterozoic Supercontinent

Late Paleoproterozoic sedimentary rock-hosted stratiform copper deposits in South China: their possible link to the supercontinent cycle

“…Collisional events at 2.1 to 1.8 Ga have been recorded in a number of Precambrian cratons and are thought to be related to the assembly of the Paleoproterozoic Columbia supercontinent (Rogers and Santosh 2002;Zhao et al 2002). In the traditional reconstruction models (Rogers and Santosh 2002;Zhao et al 2002), the Yangtze Block is not included in the Columbia supercontinent, due to the lack of geological and geochronological data for that time.…”

“…In the traditional reconstruction models (Rogers and Santosh 2002;Zhao et al 2002), the Yangtze Block is not included in the Columbia supercontinent, due to the lack of geological and geochronological data for that time. However, recent studies reveal that the Yangtze Block may have been involved in this global Paleoproterozoic orogenic event (Zhang et al 2006;Sun et al 2008;Wu et al 2008;Peng et al 2009;Zhao et al 2010).…”

Discovery of Paleoproterozoic rapakivi granite on the northern margin of the Yangtze block and its geological significance

“…They form a near east-west giant rapakivi granite-anorthosite belt, which extends from the southwest of North America to the North China Platform, via Labrador in Canada, South Greenland, the Baltic Shield and the Sciberian Platform [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The origin of the belt is considered to be related to the breakup of the Columbia supercontinent [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Thus, rapakivi granites *Corresponding author (email: cqma@cug.edu.cn) are important for understanding the evolution of the Proterozoic lithosphere.…”

Mesoproterozoic high Fe–Ti mafic magmatism in western Shandong, North China Craton: Petrogenesis and implications for the final breakup of the Columbia supercontinent

“…From a global perspective, the strongest magmatic event relevant to the final break-up of the Columbia supercontinent between 1.3 and 1.2 Ga was the emplacement of the ∼1272 Ma Mackenzie mafic dyke swarm and the eruption of the coeval flood basalts (e.g., Coppermine River basalts) in North America (Le Cheminant and Heaman, 1989). Similar-aged events are also widely recorded along both the margins and interiors of other cratons (Rogers and Santosh, 2002;Zhao et al, 2002aZhao et al, ,b, 2004Zhao et al, , 2011Hou et al, 2008a,b), including Greenland, Siberia, Antarctica, Baltica, Africa and Australia (e.g., Ernst et al, 2008 and references therein). Two distinct episodes of slightly younger rift magmatism are also identified along both the margins and interiors of these cratons, such as the ∼1.25 Ga and ∼1.21 Ga magmatic events as summarized in Table 4.…”

“…It is also proposed that a subduction-related outgrowth developed along its southern margin, forming the Xiong'er volcanic belt (e.g., He et al, 2008He et al, , 2009He et al, , 2010aZhao et al, 2011). However, due to the absence of reliable isotopic ages for much of the Mesoproterozoic (1.6-1.0 Ga) magmatism and tectonism in the NCC, most researchers consider that continental rifting in the northern NCC had ended prior to 1.6 Ga (e.g., Rogers and Santosh, 2002;Zhai, 2004;Lu et al, 2008), and that the NCC was not involved in the final breakup of the Columbia supercontinent between 1.6 and 1.2 Ga (e.g., Rogers and Santosh, 2002;Hou et al, 2008a). However, recent studies utilizing precise dating have demonstrated that 1.6-1.2 Ga magmatism and tectothermal events did take place in the NCC.…”