SOME GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE 



COAL AND IRON ORE DEPOSITS IN 



THE CARBONIFEROUS SEDIMENTS 



OF CENTRAL SHANSI 



E. NORIN. 



Before entering upon the subject in question, I propose 

 to give in advance some information concerning the character 

 of the "Shansi Formation." This name was introduced 

 by Bailey Willis as a comprehensive term including a very 

 thick complex of Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic, mainly con- 

 tinental, sediments which at one time have covered the 

 greater part of N. and W. China. They are considered to 

 be equivalent to the continental deposits of the Angara series 

 in Central Asia and Siberia which have got their name from 

 the old Angara continent, on the surface of which they were 

 deposited. 



In the central parts of Shansi the following subdivisions 

 can be established : 



1. — The Carboniferous, coal-bearing series, composed of inter- 

 bedded continental and marine deposits. The main part 

 consists of black clay sediments, white quartz-sandstones 

 and coal seams. The thickness of the series varies, but 

 seems seldom to exceed 250 metres. 



2. — A Permian Series consisting of light-coloured, grey, yellow 

 or greenish clay-sediments and sandstones amongst which 

 marine limestones and coal-seams are missing. These de- 

 posits are probably formed during a moist and compara- 

 tively cold climate. In the upper part of the series there 

 enters a new type of weathering products which form the 

 transition to the following Triassic series. The thickness 

 of the Permian sediments are about 200-300 metres. 



3. — The Triassic Marl and Sandstone formation ; its older sedi- 

 ments — 



(A) Consist of chocolate-coloured clay-sediments, argillaceous marls 



and gypsiferous breccias, interbedded with redbrown and 

 pinkish sandstone. 21 * The thickness of (A) is about 300 

 meters. 



(B) Its upper part is mainly composed of lighter or darker, often 



fine-grained, well stratified sandstones, which often show 

 diagonal bedding. There are also to be seen subordinate 

 layers of red -brown, sandy, argillaceous shale. The thick- 

 ness of (B) is larger than 250 M. 



21 In the lower parts occur also yellowish- white sandstones and 

 greyish and yellowish shales. 



