170 GEOLOGY. 



in the Cenomanian series (p. 109), and the same sort of rock constitutes 

 a part of each of the succeeding series. Chalk is, however, by no means 

 co-extensive with the system, for it has little development outside of 

 the Anglo-French area. The name " Cretaceous/ 7 therefore, as gen- 

 erally used, is as inappropriate as a name could well be, having no appli- 

 cability to the Lower Cretaceous, and fitting only a relatively small 

 area of the Upper. Even within the areas where chalk occurs, it is 

 not everywhere the dominant sort of rock. 



Greensand occurs in the Upper Cretaceous as well as in the Lower, 

 and iron-ore beds, similar in character and origin to those of the Lower 

 Cretaceous, occur in the Upper. In this case, the ore was derived 

 from the Lower Cretaceous. 



The Danian of Europe, sometimes unconformable on the lower 

 parts of the system, is perhaps to be looked upon as recording the 

 transition from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic. 1 Its fossils, especially 

 those of the plants, have distinct Cenozoic affinities. 



Asia. — The submergence of Europe and North America at the 

 beginning of the Upper Cretaceous finds its parallel in other conti- 

 nents. There are extensive areas of Upper Cretaceous (Hippuritic 

 limestone) in southwestern Asia (Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Beloo- 

 chistan, the Himalayas, and Tibet), closely connected with those of 

 Europe on the one hand, and with those of North Africa on the other. 

 The Himalayan region seems to have been still beneath the sea, for 

 Upper Cretaceous formations are found here and there in the mountains 

 at great elevations. Upper Cretaceous greensand has recently been 

 found in the Salt Range of India. 2 South of these marine beds there 

 appears to have been a large tract of land, including much of India, 

 which has been thought to have stretched southwest so as to unite 

 that peninsula with Africa, though the configuration of the sea-bottom 

 does not lend this view much support. Upper Cretaceous beds occur 

 also on the eastern coast of China, and in Japan. In many of these 

 places, they rest on formations older than the Lower Cretaceous, and 

 therefore record geographic changes dating from the beginning or early 

 part of the Upper Cretaceous period. On the other hand, northern 

 Asia, which was largely submerged during the Earlier Cretaceous period, 

 was largely land during the Later. 



1 Geikie, op. cit., p. 1201. 



2 Seeley, Geol. Mag., 1902, p. 471. 



