Vol. 51.] THE LOESS AND OTHER DEPOSITS OF SHANTUNG. 239 



2. Marine Sands. In the spring and summer of 1887 one of the 

 authors (T. W. K.) had occasion to conduct some surveys for the 

 Imperial Chinese Government in the province of Shantung, and he 

 there found a formation of later origin than the loess and un- 

 doubtedly marine. Largely indeed the newer deposits, which range 

 possibly into the human epoch, were the result of the denudation of 

 the loess ; and, as they seem to throw considerable light on the 

 early condition of that deposit, they are worth noting. 



The author's route lay from Shanghai to Chin-kiang, on the lower 

 plain of the Yangtse, and thence by the so-called Imperial or 

 Grand Canal (the Yiin-liang-ho, or ' Grain-bearing River ' of the 

 Chinese) to Ts'ing Kiang-pu on the old bed (1250-1854) of the 

 Yellow River near Hwai-an-fu. From Ts'ing Kiang-pu the writer 

 went overland, following nearly the line of the canal to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Siichow x (lat. N. 34° 25', long. E. 118°), and then struck 

 off through the centre of Shantung by I-chow and Tai-an-fu to 

 Tsi-nan-fu, the provincial capital, whence he again struck the 

 northern portion of the canal, and carried a survey and levellings 

 from Lin-t'sing-chow on the borders of Pe-chi-li (lat. JN". 37° 10', 

 long. E. 116° 2') down to Tsin-ing-chow, near the southern limit of 

 the province (lat. N. 39°), returning to Teh-chow (lat. jS". 37° 35', 

 long. E. 116° 30'), and thence descending the Wei-ho to Tientsin. 



The levels proved, what had been before suspected, that the 

 entire west of Shantung, so far from being, as frequently repre- 

 sented, a gently sloping alluvial deposit, was really the bed of an 

 old marine strait dividing the highlands of Shantung from those of 

 Honan and Shanse, and the writer was able to trace them from the 

 valley of the Yangtse at Sien-mu-miao (lat. N. 32°, long. E. 118°), 

 20 miles below Chinkiang, by Yang-chow-fu (lat. N. 32° 25', 

 long. E. 119° 20') through Northern Kiangsu, Western Shantung 

 and Pe-chi-li up to Tung-chow (lat. N. 39° 54', long. E. 116° 41') 

 near Peking. The western limit bent westward in Honan to approxi- 

 mately long. E. Ill , and returned to the east along the foot of 

 the highlands of Western Pe-chi-li. The mountain-ranges and high- 

 lands of Shantung east of 116° long. E. rose as at least two islands 

 in the sea, while Lower Kiangsu and the western fringe of the Gulf 

 of Pe-chi-li appeared as the alluvial deposits of the Yangtse and 

 Yellow Rivers respectively. 



When first struck, in an island of the Yangtse near Sien-mu-miao, 

 the marine sands were seen in a bank of coarse yellow sand 

 extremely false-bedded — a true beach-deposit, though a cursory 

 examination did not then disclose any fossils. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Yang-chow-fu and at Sien-mu-miao similar banks occurred, 

 rising some 14 to 20 feet above the present level of the river, and 

 at intervals up to Ts'ing Kiang-pu (lat. JS". 33' 40°, long. E. 119° 

 40') similar beds occurred. At Ts'ing Kiang-pu the old bed of the 

 Yellow River was met with, not, as might be expected, lying in 

 a valley of denudation, but actually raised several feet above the 

 level of the plain : the river had been restrained from overflowing 

 the latter by embankments, now ruined, some 30 feet high. 



1 All positions are approximative. 



s2 



