376 J. 8. Lee—An Outline of Chinese Geology. 
general absence of Silurian and Devonian strata in the vast area of 
northern China be fitly interpreted as the result of a broad epeirogenic 
movement accompanying the slow Devonian transgression in the 
southern part of the country ? The region on the south of the Tsing- 
ling belt apparently behaved as the fulcrum. 
During the later part of the Devonian period China experienced 
little geographical and geological changes. Uniform subaerial 
denudation in the north progressed side by side with tranquil 
sedimentation in the south. In the meantime, the elimatic con- 
ditions became suitable for exuberant growth of vegetation on the 
land ; cosmopolitan types of organisms swarmed in the open ocean. 
With such a multitudinous development of plant and animal life 
the great coal-forming period was inaugurated in eastern Asia. 
Tue ANTHRACOLITHIC OR CARBONIFEROUS-PERMIAN. 
The upper Paleozoic rocks are well developed in all parts of China, 
including the high mountain ranges of the Tsing-ling and the Nan- 
shan. The centinuous and conformable nature of the formation 
that represents the transitional period from the Carboniferous to 
the Permian renders it difficult to select a definite plane for dividing 
the Carboniferous from the Permian as in the case of north-western 
Europe. The term “ Anthracolithic’’, first introduced by Dr. W. 
Waagen, and recently adopted by Professor EH. Haug for denoting 
the whole of the Carboniferous and Permian period, seems to be 
particularly suitable for Chinese geology. 
Two facies of the Anthracolithic Formation are recognizable in 
China: the continental facies with thick seams of coal is principally 
distributed in the northern provinces, namely, Manchuria, Shan- 
tung, Chi-li, Shan-si, Ho-nan, Shen-si, and probably including the 
eastern part of Kan-su. This coal-bearing series is also known as 
the Shansian System. The marine facies with massive limestones 
is found in the southern provinces, namely, tothe south of the Tsing- 
ling Range. In the lower Yang-tze Valley, the Tsing-ling Range, 
and the Nan-shan Ranges these two facies are more or less equally 
represented. The facies-character of the formation is, however, 
not absolutely confined to the several regions in such a way as 
outlined above. Inthe marine facies coal seams and other terriginous 
deposits are not absent; while in the continental facies we find 
seams of true marine limestones which decrease in number and 
thickness towards the north. They entirely disappear in the 
Wan-ping coal-field, west of Peking, reappearing in the Kai-ping 
coal-field, eastern Chi-li, and Manchuria. Thanks to these inter- 
calations, ere long we shall be able to attempt an accurate 
correlation of the Shansian strata. 
Throughout northern China the Shansian formation generally rests 
at once on the Sinian limestone ; the latter is sometimes erroneously 
called by miners the ‘* Carboniferous Limestone’ or the “‘ Mountain 
Limestone’’. Richthofen, too, regarded the Sinian limestone in 
several parts of Shan-tung as the “‘ Kohlenkalk’”’. The upper 
