1 10 STUDIES IN GEOLOGY, No. 4 



origin, but if the materials had come from the upland they 

 would have carried so much in addition to vegetable debris, 

 that there would have been no coal seam. I therefore con- 

 clude that the flora was a lowland flora. On the other hand 

 it is distinctly not a littoral flora, although it may have 

 flourished along a coast. Nor is it a swamp flora. I would 

 especially emphasize this total lack of predominantly palus- 

 trine facies, since Briiggen in a recent paper on the formation 

 of coal with special reference to this region, seems to 

 think that the flora described by Engelhardt was a swamp 

 flora. Regarding the temperature indicated I can only feel 

 sure of two general conclusions, namely that at the time 

 it flourished there was never frost in that region and second 

 that the climate was very much warmer and with more sun- 

 shine than at the present time. 



The accompanying sketch map shows the location of the 

 Chilean fossil flora and of other fossil floras of similar age in 

 Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. It also shows the present 

 southern limit of palms and the approximate western and 

 southern limits of Zamia, Iriartea and various other equator- 

 ial types that occur in this fossil flora. The lines of the 

 East and West coast show the approximate shape of the 

 southern part of the continent if the present sea bottom were 

 raised to the 550 fathom line and the outline would be little 

 altered if this elevation were to only the 100 fathom line, 

 since the major part of the area is within the 100 fathom 

 line. That it is not entirely conjectural to suppose that there 

 has been this relatively recent coastal subsidence is indicated 

 by the disappearance beneath the Pacific of the Chilean 

 Coast Range from Latitude 42 southward, and the flooding 

 of the great longitudinal valley that formerly existed be- 

 tween this range and the Andes. 



Most of the Andean region throughout its whole extent in 

 South America was covered by the sea during the Upper 

 Cretaceous. It is possible but has not been demonstrated that 

 the areas of crystalline schists in the Coast Range may have 



