The paleogeographic relationship between South China and Gondwana is critical for understanding the dispersion of Gondwana, accretion of Asia, and evolution of the Paleo‐Tethys. However, the lack of robust Devonian paleomagnetic data prevents a confirmative reconstruction of South China's connection to Gondwana and its subsequent separation during the Paleozoic. Here we report a new paleopole (33.6°N, 236.4°E; A₉₅ = 3°) from the Givetian red beds (~385 Ma) in central South China. Fitting apparent polar wander paths between South China and Gondwana suggests that South China was connected to East Gondwana from the earliest Cambrian to Early Devonian, with its position closed to NW Australia. Thereafter, South China separated from Gondwana during ~400–385 Ma, as evidenced by their decoupled apparent polar wander paths. The paleomagnetic data suggest that the Paleo‐Tethys Ocean between South China and East Gondwana had been up to ~1,600 km latitudinally wide by ~360 Ma.

A new combined geochronological and paleomagnetic study was carried out on the late Mesoproterozoic mafic dikes in the northeastern and central North China Craton (NCC). Three dikes were dated at 1224.2 ± 5.1 Ma, 1219.9 ± 6.0 Ma and 1215.2 ± 7.7 Ma through use of the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) zircon dating method and one dike was dated at 1219.1 ± 4.3 Ma by using SIMS baddeleyite dating method, indicating that these dikes emplaced at ∼1220 Ma. A total of 286 paleomagnetic core samples were collected from seven ∼1220 Ma dikes and their host rocks, as well as two ∼775 Ma dikes for field tests. All the samples were subjected to stepwise thermal demagnetization. Rock magnetic experiments of representative samples demonstrate that the dominant magnetic carriers of the ∼1220 Ma dikes are single-domain and pseudo-single domain magnetite grains. Two paleomagnetic components were identified from the ∼1220 Ma dikes. The low temperature component is a viscous magnetic remanence acquired in the recent geomagnetic field. The high temperature component (HTC) was isolated between 500 and 580°C, which directs east and down with moderate inclination. A paleomagnetic pole (11.3°N, 175.8°E, A₉₅ = 7.6°) was determined by averaging seven virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs), each VGP corresponding to the mean HTC direction of an individual dike. The ∼1220 Ma pole passed a baked-contact test and appeared to adequately average out secular variation. It differs from any younger poles of the NCC, and is thus considered as a reliable pole for the NCC. While our new results place the NCC at intermediate paleolatitudes (∼28.8°N for site located at 36.8°N, 113.4°E) at ∼1220 Ma, the coeval high-quality poles in the global paleomagnetic database, however, indicate that the Australian cratons were positioned near the pole and Laurentia was located around the Equator, depicting a dispersed paleogeographic pattern of the three continents at ∼1220 Ma. The updated paleomagnetic data together with geological evidence may suggest that the NCC separated from northern Australia between ∼1320 and ∼1220 Ma, and later joined northwestern Laurentia between ∼1220 and ∼1110 Ma.

The Tonian supercontinent Rodinia is hypothesized to have included almost all Proterozoic continental blocks. Competing models variably place South China at the core or periphery of Rodinia or separated from it entirely. Tonian paleogeographic models also vary in whether they incorporate hypothesized large and rapid oscillatory true polar wander associated with the ca. 810–795 Ma Bitter Springs Stage. Here, we present paleomagnetic data paired with U‐Pb chemical abrasion isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry zircon geochronology from the Tonian Xiajiang Group in South China to establish the craton's position and test the Bitter Springs Stage true polar wander hypothesis. Fine‐grained siliciclastic sediments and ashes of the Xiajiang Group post‐date the Jiangnan Orogeny, which united the Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks. A U‐Pb zircon date of 815.73 ± 0.18 Ma from a tuff near the base of the Xiajiang Group constrains the Jiangnan Orogeny to have ended between ca. 830 and 816 Ma. The paleomagnetic and geochronologic data constrain South China to high latitudes ca. 813 Ma and indicate a relatively stable high‐latitude position from ca. 821 to 805 Ma. These high‐latitude constraints either connect the craton to Rodinia along its periphery or disconnect it from the supercontinent entirely. The difference in pole position between the pre‐Bitter Springs Stage Xiajiang Group pole and the syn‐Bitter Springs Stage Madiyi Formation pole is significantly less than that predicted for the Bitter Springs Stage true polar wander hypothesis. If this pole difference is interpreted as true polar wander superimposed upon differential plate motion, it requires South China to have been separate from Rodinia.

The rate of movement of Earth’s solid shell relative to its spin axis, or true polar wander, depends on variations in mantle convection and viscosity. We report paleomagnetic and geochronologic data from South China that constrain the rate of rapid true polar wander (>5° per million years) between 832 million years and 821 million years ago. Analysis of the paleomagnetic database demonstrates secular change of true polar wander related to mantle cooling and thermal structure across supercontinent cycles. True polar wander rates are relatively muted with a partially insulated mantle during supercontinent assembly and accelerate as mantle thermal mixing reestablishes with supercontinent breakup. Decreasing true polar wander rate through the Neoproterozoic was succeeded by overall smaller variations in the Phanerozoic. We propose that Neoproterozoic extensive plate tectonic activities enhanced mantle cooling, giving rise to a reduction in mantle convective forcing, an increase in mantle viscosity, and a decrease in true polar wander rates into the Phanerozoic.