Because the formation of Gondwana encompassed several continents and extended from the Neoproterzoic to the early Palaeozoic, " Pan-African " could no longer be considered a single orogeny, but rather an orogenic cycle that included the opening and closing of several large oceans and the collisions of several continental blocks.
22.
One group of researchers suggests that the belt grew, in the Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic, from the margin of the Siberian craton to the south through accretion of island arcs and Precambrian continental blocks until the evolution was terminated through collision with the North China and Tarim cratons in the latest Paleozoic to early Mesozoic.
