COAL. 



03 



According to this writer the only horizons capable of yielding 

 continuous seams of good quality belong to the Noric, Werfen 

 and Moscovian. The other horizons contain irregular seams of 

 very impure coal containing large quantities of pyrites. I have 

 examined occurrences of Paleozoic and Mesozoic coals in Yunnan. 

 The Yunnan Hsien-Yangtzc valley field undoubtedly belongs to 

 the latter division, but until my fossil collections have been deter- 

 mined, I cannot state whether these coals are of Triassic or Rhfetic 

 age. With the exception of the Yunnan Hsien field all the Mesozoic 

 coals of Yunnan are confined to the eastern and south-eastern 

 parts of the province, a region which I did not examine. The 

 following notes concerning them are taken from French sources 



as indicated. 



Upper Triassic Coal. 



The coal-seams of the Upper Trias are intercalated in the Noric 



N Ni-ou-kc occurrence. 



sandstones which terminate the system m 

 Yunnan. Leclere, Lantenois and Deprat 1 have 

 described the occurrence at Ni-ou-ke, 10 kilometres east- south- east 

 of A-mi Chou (lat. 23° 41' : long. 103° 17'). Leclere attributed a 

 llluetic age to the deposits, which Lantenois admits is possible. 

 Deprat states that they are of Noric age, at the top of the Yunnancse 

 Trias. Four seams occur with a total thickness of 3 metres; the 

 principal seam which is worked is 1-2 metres thick but it contains 



marly bands. 



The following analyses of coal from Ni-ou-ke are given by 



Lantenois : — 



No. 



Moisture. 



Volatile 

 matter. 



1 



30 



33-50 



2 



800 



2500 



3 



7 04 





4 



8-80 



21-00 



5 





30-00 



f> 



4 00 



3200 



Ash. 



Calorific value. 



410 

 1700 

 18-42 

 18-38 



8-00 

 13-00 



4-740 

 4-690 



5-350 



1 Le., pp. 353-354 ; La., pp. 395-396 ; De., p. 244. 



Leclere gives a composition of from 30-35 per cent, of volatile 

 matter and about 6 per cent, of ash. The coal is said to burn 

 with a bright flame and to yield a light friable coke. Its worst 



