ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



Note on Traces of Recent Ice-action in N. China. 



By J. S. Lee, M.Sc, National University, Peking. 

 (PLATE II.) 

 T^HE question whether N. China was under the grip of Polar 

 -■- severity towards the close of the Tertiary or the beginning of 

 the Pleistocene time, and whether there was sufficient precipitation 

 to allow the existence of large glaciers even if the temperature 

 had become for a time arctic, has, on account of its important 

 bearing on the problem of the cause of glaciation, aroused from 

 time to time forcible but conflicting arguments. As cumulative 

 evidence tends to show the wide prevalence of desert conditions 

 all over N. China throughout recent geological times, geologists 

 seem to have generally agreed, and naturally so, to provide a 

 negative answer to the second part of the question. But as to the 

 first part, it remains so far completely shrouded in doubt. In 

 matter of this kind nobody would expect to wrest out truth by 

 mere theoretical contention. Any relevant fact, therefore, deserves 

 to be placed on record. 



Two cases are now available that seem to afford a strong ground 

 to prevent us from admitting the hitherto accepted view. 



(1) In journeying across the coal-basin of Sha-ho-hsien, southern 

 Chi-li, I sighted from a distance a singular hill-range of moderate 

 height, called the Sha-yuan-ling. The range possesses a round 

 contour, and trends E.S.E.-W.N.W. The E.S.E. end of the range 

 is separated by a deep valley from another hill-range running 

 N.N.E. ; and the W.N.W. part of the Sha-yuan-ling gradually 

 flattens out towards the loess plain so that the whole hill con- 

 stitutes a topographical unit. 



As I approached the Sha-jaian-ling from the south-west strange 

 boulders began to appear. Being pre-occapied by the idea that 

 desert conditions prevailed throughout recent geological times in 

 N. China, I sought all conceivable ways other than glacia- 

 tion to account for the presence of these erratics, but in vain, 

 for the topographical features of this isolated hill do not admit the 

 assumption that they have rolled down from the hills to the south- 

 east ; still less likely were they brought down by a pre-existing 

 stream. Before, however, I reached the northern foot of the 

 Sha-yuan-ling a cliff on the hillside suddenly came in sight 

 (Fig. 1 ). Large and small blocks or boulders are seen in this natural 

 profile. They are scattered at random in a clayey or sandy 

 material, and are generally polished on one or two, but rarely more 

 than two, surfaces. The edges of the blocks are in the majority 

 of cases fairly sharp except those between the polished surfaces, 

 which are as a rule rounded. Although the finer material that 

 forms a part of the deposit bears here and there suggestions of 



