Editing Laurasia (section)

===Asian blocks===
{{Multiple image | total_width = 400 | align = right | perrow = 2
 | image1 = Geology of Asia 450.Ma.jpg
 | image2 = Geology of Asia 350Ma.jpg
 | image3 = Geology of Asia 300Ma.jpg
 | image4 = Geology of Asia 200Ma.jpg
 | footer = Journey of the Asian blocks from Gondwana to Laurasia 450, 350, 300, and 200 Mya.<br />View centred on 0°S,105°E.
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During the assembly of Pangaea, Laurasia grew as continental blocks broke off Gondwana's northern margin; pulled by old closing oceans in front of them and pushed by new opening oceans behind them.<ref name="Zhao-etal2018-p14">{{Harvnb|Zhao|Wang|Huang|Dong|2018|loc=Closure of Paleo-Tethys Ocean and assembly of Pangea with East Asian blocks, pp. 14-16}}</ref> During the Neoproterozoic-Early Paleozoic break-up of Rodinia, the opening of the Proto-Tethys Ocean split the Asian blocks&nbsp;– Tarim, Qaidam, Alex, North China, South China&nbsp;– from the northern shores of Gondwana (north of India and Australia in modern coordinates) and the closure of the same ocean reassembled them along the same shores 500–460&nbsp;Mya resulting in Gondwana at its largest extent.<ref name="Zhao-etal-closure" />

The break-up of Rodinia also resulted in the opening of the long-lived Paleo-Asian Ocean between Baltica and Siberia in the north and Tarim and North China in the south. The closure of this ocean is preserved in the [[Central Asian Orogenic Belt]], the largest orogen on Earth.<ref name="Zhao-etal2018-p11">{{Harvnb|Zhao|Wang|Huang|Dong|2018|loc=Closure of Paleo-Asian Ocean: collision of Tarim, Alex and North China with East Europe and Siberia, pp. 11-14}}</ref>

North China, South China, Indochina, Tarim broke off from Gondwana during the Silurian to Devonian periods; as the Paleo-Tethys Ocean  opened behind them. Sibumasu and Qiantang and other Cimmerian continental fragments broke off in the Early Permian. [[Lhasa terrane|Lhasa]], [[Burma terrane|Burma]], Sikuleh, southwest Sumatra, West Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo, broke off during the Late Triassic-Late Jurassic.<ref>{{Harvnb|Metcalfe|1999|pp=15–16}}</ref>

During the Carboniferous and Permian, Baltica first collided with Kazakhstania and Siberia, then North China with Mongolia and Siberia. By the middle Carboniferous, however, South China had already been in contact with North China long enough to allow floral exchange between the two continents. The Cimmerian blocks rifted from Gondwana in the Late Carboniferous.<ref name="Blakey-2003" />

In the early Permian, the Neo-Tethys Ocean opened behind the Cimmerian terranes (Sibumasu, Qiantang, Lhasa) and, in the late Carboniferous, the Paleo-Tethys Ocean closed in front. The eastern branch of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean, however, remained opened while Siberia was added to Laurussia and Gondwana collided with Laurasia.<ref name="Zhao-etal2018-p14" />

When the eastern Palaeo-Tethys closed 250–230&nbsp;Mya, a series of Asian blocks&nbsp;– Sibumasu, Indochina, South China, Qiantang, Lhasa&nbsp;– formed a separate southern Asian continent.  This continent collided 240–220&nbsp;Mya with a northern continent&nbsp;– North China, Qinling, Qilian, Qaidam, Alex, Tarim&nbsp;– along the Central China orogen to form a combined East Asian continent.  The northern margins of the northern continent collided with Baltica and Siberia 310–250&nbsp;Ma, and thus the formation of the East Asian continent marked Pangaea at its greatest extent.<ref name="Zhao-etal2018-p14" /> By this time, the rifting of western Pangaea had already begun.<ref name="Blakey-2003" />