Kazakhstania (Kazakh: Qazaqstaniya), the Kazakh terranes, or the Kazakhstan Block, is a geological region in Central Asia which consists of the area roughly centered on Lake Balkhash, north and east of the Aral Sea, south of the Siberian craton and west of the Altai Mountains. The Junggar basin in Xinjiang, China, is also part of Kazakhstania, though sometimes referred to as the Junggar Block.Because the Kazakh terranes merged during the Late Ordovician as part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt they are also referred to as the Kazakh Orogen. These terranes are located in what is today Kazakhstan, north-eastern Uzbekistan, northern Kyrgyzstan and south-western China.Today Kazakhstania is surrounded by three large, former continents: to the north-east the Gornostaev Shear Zone separates it from Siberia with which it collided during the Carboniferous; to the north-west is Baltica which lay adjacent to the Kazakh Tourgai terrane but far away from Kazakhstania; to the south and east was Gondwana stretching from the South Pole to the Equator. Not far away from the dispersed Kazakh terranes were South China, North China, and Tarim, but how these continental blocks were positioned relative to Gondwana is not known.
- ⭐ Core Definition: Kazakhstania
- Kazakhstania in the context of Euramerica
- Kazakhstania in the context of Hunic terranes
Kazakhstania in the context of Euramerica
Laurasia (/lɔːˈreɪʒə, -ʃiə/) was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around 335 to 175 million years ago (Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana 215 to 175 Mya (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pangaea, drifting further north after the split and finally broke apart with the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean c. 56 Mya. The name is a portmanteau of Laurentia and Eurasia.
Laurentia, Avalonia, Baltica, and a series of smaller terranes, collided in the Caledonian orogeny c. 400 Mya to form Laurussia. Laurussia then collided with Gondwana to form Pangaea. Kazakhstania and Siberia were then added to Pangaea 290–300 Mya to form Laurasia. Laurasia finally became an independent continental mass when Pangaea broke up into Gondwana and Laurasia.
View the full Wikipedia page for EuramericaKazakhstania in the context of Hunic terranes
The Hunic superterrane is a terrane that is now attached to Europe and Asia. At the end of the Ordovician or beginning of the Silurian it separated from Gondwana and joined Laurasia at the beginning of the Carboniferous, at the time of the Variscan orogeny. Rather than being a single block, there were apparently two groups of blocks, the European Hunic terranes and the Asian Hunic terranes.
The collision with Laurasia (specifically, with the Kipchak arc) formed what is now known as Kazakhstania according to one geological model of the ancient Earth.
View the full Wikipedia page for Hunic terranes