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The continent of China developed through the coalescence of three major cratons (North China, Tarim and Yangtze) and continental micro‐blocks through the processes of oceanic crust disappearance and acceretionary‐collision of continental crusts. The strata of the Chinese continental landmass are subdivided into 12 tectonic‐strata regions. Based on the composition of geological features among the three main cratons, continental micro‐blocks and other major global cratons, their affinities can be preliminarily deduced during the Tonian period, using evidence from sedimentary successions, paleobiogeography, tectonic and magmatic events. The Yangtze and Tarim cratons show that they have close affinities during the assembly‐dispersal milestone of the Rodinia Supercontinent. The sedimentary record and magmatic age populations in the blocks suggest that there was a widespread, intensive magmatic event that resulted from a subduction process during ∼1000–820 Ma, related to continental rifting around the Yangtze and Tarim cratons. However, they differ greatly from the North China Craton. The continental micro‐blocks in the Panthalassic Ocean could have some missing connection with the North China Craton that persisted until the Middle‐Late Devonian. In contrast, the Alxa Block showed a strong affinity with the Tarim Craton. The revised Tonian paleogeography of the Rodinia Supercontinent is a good demonstration of how to show the relationship between the main cratons and the continental micro‐blocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cryogenian is a critical period in the history of the Earth. It is marked by multiple extreme climate changes that caused alternating global glacial and interglacial intervals. These dramatically changed the sedimentary system, and metal ores and source rocks distributed widely during this period. Therefore, studying the Cryogenian stratigraphic framework and sedimentary basins is important to improve the stratigraphic resolution for metal mineral and hydrocarbon prospecting and exploration in China. This review paper firstly divides three tectonic‐stratigraphic regions in China in the Cryogenian, including the tectonic‐stratigraphic regions of Great South China, Xingmeng‐Tarim, and North China. Secondly, geochronologic data and geological records are combined to clearly depict the Cryogenian sedimentary sequence of continental blocks and micro‐continental blocks in different tectonic‐stratigraphic regions. The results were used to propose a new comparison scheme of stratigraphy for the Cryogenian in China. Finally, according to differences of sedimentary evolution and tectonic evolvement, sedimentary basins and their lithofacies paleogeography are identified and summarized, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]