172 GEOLOGY. 



deposition of the Lower Cretaceous beds, and before the deposition 

 of the Upper. This recalls the relations of the Lower and Upper 

 systems in America. The Upper Cretaceous is represented in New 

 Zealand, where beds of coarse elastics, together with some greensand, 

 are found. There is also some coal in the system, which, as in some 

 parts of western North America, is not sharply differentiated from 

 the Tertiary. The Upper Cretaceous system is also represented in 

 central Borneo 1 and Antarctica. 2 



In general it may be said that there was little marine sedimen- 

 tation in the Late Cretaceous period north of the parallel 60° north, 

 while the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous systems are here more wide- 

 spread. Between the parallels of 20° and 60°, on the other hand, 

 the zone where marine Lower Cretaceous is but slightly developed, 

 the Upper Cretaceous system is widespread. Outside of China, the 

 Upper Cretaceous system is wanting over no considerable land-area 

 within these limits. In the equatorial and south temperate zones, 

 the Upper Cretaceous seas were also expanded much beyond the 

 limits of the waters of the preceding period. 



Climate. — The fresh- water fossils of the Upper Cretaceous of cen- 

 tral Europe indicate a warm climate, comparable to that of Malaysia. 3 

 In the eastern Alpine region and beyond, there is a conglomerate for- 

 mation (Flysch) which will be referred to in connection with the Eocene 

 system. The lower part of the formation is, however, Upper Creta- 

 ceous, and its constitution is such as to have suggested glaciation. 

 The suggestion has not been verified. 



Life of the (Upper) Cretaceous. 

 The Land Life. 

 The carbonaceous deposits which the Cretaceous vegetation con- 

 tributed to the latest Mesozoic series are quite analogous to those 

 of the Coal Measures of the late Paleozoic, and the Animikean 

 carbonaceous beds of the Proterozoic. They all seem to be expres- 

 sions of undrained conditions of the land, arising out of the initial 

 unbalancing of a base-level state, preliminary to a marked deforma- 

 tive movement. This, in the case of the Cretaceous, is more particu- 

 larly true of the closing epoch, the Laramie. 



1 Molengraaf, Geol Mag., 1903, p. 170. 



2 Wel'er, Jour, of Geol.. Vol. XL, p. 413. 

 3 Neumayr, Erdegeschichte, Bd. II, p. 383. 



