Cycles and Stages of Geological History of China Mainland

Abstract：This paper puts forward a new viewpoint that geological history of China may be divided into six disintegrating-reintegrating cycles based on available geological data, especially on the comparison of these data with rocks in various plate-tectonic settings. In consideration of their contribution to the formation of China's mainland and the new development of global supercontinental research, these cycles are named Eochina cycle, Paleochina cycle, North China cycle, South China cycle, China cycle and Panchina cycle, respectively. It is suggested that geological records of the continental rifting should serve as the the benchmark between two cycles. The cycle may be subdivided further into disintegrating, reintegrating and intracontinental stages with various kinds of kinematics and dynamics. Following a brief description of these six cycles in the geological history of China's mainland, this paper deals with two important problems, i. e., the cause for the different temporal and spatial distributions in the formation and evolution of China's mainland, and the relationship between the plate tectonics and the mantle plume. Geological features of China's mainland has led the author to reach the primary conclusions that the coexistence of the rifting in some regions with the simultaneous amalgamation in other regions in the Earth is the major cause for temporal and spatial difference in tectonic evolution of various areas, and that mantle plume and plate tectonics are two isolated dynamic regimes and may occur in the same area at the same time.