SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 



PART 4. 



The Geology of the Country traversed by 

 THE Peking-Kalgan Railway 



From Peking to Nan-k'ou the railway traverses 

 part of the ChihH plain. As one approaches 

 Nan-k'ou, low limestone hills, outliers from the 

 main range, can be seen. In these the very- 

 marked strata dip at an angle of about 45° 

 to the south-east. The same thing may be 

 seen in the lower slopes of the main range. The 

 strata of the higher levels, however, are hori- 

 zontal, and, though the actual contact cannot be 

 clearly made out from the train, suggest the 

 existence of two unconformable formations of 

 limestone. This is the case, the sharply dipping 

 strata of the lower slopes and outliers having 

 been identified as belonging to an older forma- 

 tion called the Nankou series, which finds its 

 equivalent in Shansi in the Hu-t'o series already 

 mentioned. 



Ascending the valley, at the mouth of which 

 Nan-k'ou is situated, one soon reaches a level 

 above the Nankou limestone, and finds the Ta- 

 yang limestone (Sinian), the equivalent of the 

 Ki-ch'ou limestone in Shansi, lying in horizontal 

 strata. Further on up the valley these commence 

 to dip to the north-west, and are interbedded 

 with blue clays and shales. Finally the strata 

 become contorted, and are replaced by plutonic 



268 



