Fig. 2: Reconstruction of paleolatitude, paleogeography and kinematic cycles of the Lhasa terrane and adjacent blocks.

This figure shows the paleolatitude evolution (A) and paleo-position reconstruction (B-F) of the Lhasa terrane and adjacent blocks, including the two simplified kinematic cycles without ridge subduction (G–L). Two subduction transference events in cycle 1 (Fig. 2G–I) and cycle 2 (Fig. 2J–L) are identified in building Eurasia. The age uncertainty of the rifting events is based on paleolatitude evolution and geologic observations (see text for details). The possible southward subduction of the Meso-Tethys below Lhasa and its age remains controversial and, thus, is not indicated here to avoid confusion (See Supplementary Note 1). The exact locations of the mid-ocean ridges in the Meso-Tethys and Ceno-Tethys Oceans are somewhat uncertain; therefore, they are depicted near the centers of these oceans (Fig. 2B–F). The paleolatitude evolution is generated with www.paleomagnetism.org²⁸. The observed paleolatitudes of the Lhasa, North Qiangtang, and South Qiangtang terranes are calculated from the data compiled in Supplementary Table 1. In our kinematic reconstruction, we observed a rapid TPW event during the Late Jurassic period¹⁸ (Fig. 2A). This event is supported by several paleomagnetic data collected from continental and oceanic plates^68,69. The Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous TPW event formed a complete loop to provide solid evidence for the existence of fast TPW (see Hou et al.⁶⁹ and the references cited therein). Therefore, the paleolatitude evolution of Eurasia, Gondwana-India, and Gondwana-Australia are calculated from the fast TPW model based on Kent and Irving’s model²⁷. The paleolatitudes of Australia are calculated at a reference location (16°S, 113°E), and other paleolatitudes are calculated at a reference location (29.4°N, 88°E), cf. Supplementary Table 1^{9,13,14,18,20,23,24,25,26,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49}. An alternative scenario of subduction transference followed by ridge subduction soon afterwards, which requires the ridge to be close to the southern margin of Asia, is illustrated in Fig. 3. NQT North Qiangtang terrane, SQT South Qiangtang terrane, Lh Lhasa terrane. Other abbreviations (KX, NY, GD, etc.) indicate individual paleomagnetic results; refer to Supplementary Table 1 for full documentation.