TECTONIC AND PALEOGEOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF LATE CALEDONIAN IN THE SOUTH OF CHINA CONTINENT

Through the analysis of tectonic-paleogeographic distribution and evolutional characteristics during five periods of Late Caledonian in the south of China,a few conclusions are got as follows: Collision of Huaxia and Yangtze landmasses started from Late Ordovician and gradually developed from southeast to westnorth,where greatly thick sandstone and shale sediment of foreland basin develop in Hunan-Jiangxi Provinces.Jiangnan-Xuefeng belt and Central Guizhou zone belong to uplift behind foreland basin and control the sedimentary evolution of basins in Yangtze craton.Affected by the landmasses collision,the paleogeography in the southeast edge of Yangtze craton transforms from deep-sea to littoral or shallow sea basin,while the paleogeography inside Yangtze craton transforms from carbo-nate platform in shallow sea environment to depression with lag deposit in deep water environment.The depression inside Yangtze craton gradually moves to the front of foreland uplift,where coarse clastic rocks sediment of littoral and delta facies mainly forms.But tectonic-paleogeographic evolutional framework in the west of Sichuan-Yunnan is entirely different from the south of China,it presents the background of regional extension and marine transgression in Silurian.