The Alashan Terrane was not part of North China by the Late Devonian: Evidence from detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology and Hf isotopes

The relationship between the Alashan Terrane and North China is a contentious issue given the discovery of allochthonous detrital zircons in Middle Ordovician flysch sandstones from the southwestern Ordos Margin and the large differences in palaeolatitudes between the North China and Tarim cratons. We have collected a suite of Middle to Late Devonian sedimentary rocks from the Niushoushan Mountains at the southeastern margin of the Alashan...