CHAPTER V. LATE PALEOZOIC. 



CARBONIFEROUS STRATA. 



The Carboniferous strata of China constitute two very distinct series, 

 both of which are, however, apparently of upper Carboniferous (Pennsyl- 

 vanian) age. The one is a sequence of essentially continental deposits: 

 sandstone and shales, with numerous coal-beds and occasional thin bitu- 

 minous limestones. Many of these strata are no doubt marine, the lime- 

 stones in particular being characterized by marine fossils; but many others 

 belong to a coastal plain and are either seashore or fluviatile or marsh 

 deposits. In China they extend over the northern provinces, Liau-tung, 

 Chi'-li, Shan-tung, and Shan-si, and there is probably a large peninsula in 

 the province of Hu-nan. Beyond China they are of general occurrence 

 in the ranges of Mongolia and Tibet, which rise through the great mantle 

 of desert deposits. 



The other series is in fact a great single formation, a limestone which 

 in some places is more than 4,000 feet, 1,200 meters, thick and is charac- 

 terized by marine fossils throughout. It has been identified south of the 

 Ts'in-ling-shan in the provinces of Shen-si, Ssi'-ch'uan, and Hu-pe'i, and 

 further east along the Yang-tzi'-kiang in An-hui and Kiang-si. It occurs 

 in the Kuen-lung and Nan-shan mountains of Tibet, and also in the Tien- 

 shan in Turkestan. It is furthermore a wide-spread formation throughout 

 all of southwestern China, Burmah, and the Malay peninsula. The marine 

 deposits are also extensively represented in the Himalayas. 



I first take up the account of the marine formations, which conform- 

 ably succeed the Devonian, and next the interbedded continental and 

 marine formations which rest unconformably upon older rocks. 



MARINE CARBONIFEROUS. 



The first description of the Carboniferous limestone of southern China 

 was furnished by von Richthofen, who gave it the name of the Ki-tau 

 limestone, from a locality on the Yang-tzi'-kiang. His description has 

 been given in connection with his account of the Devonian of the same 

 region. 



Three hundred and seventy miles, 600 kilometers, west of von Richt- 

 hofen 's locality, in the gorges of the Yang-tzi'-kiang, between I-chang and 



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