72 
Tlic American Geolos^ist. 
August, 1904. 
MORPHOGRAPHICAL VALUES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE 
Characterization 
of the land step 
fLandstaffel) 
Border of the step 
(Staffelrand) 
Eastern Boundary 
1. Yunnan step 
2. Kwei (Kui) step 
3. Tsinlijtg step 
4. South Schmisi 
(Shansi) step 
5. East Mongolian step. 
6. Lena step 
Yunnan crescent 
Kwei (Kui) crescent 
Ho7ian crescent 
Taihangschan (Taihang) 
crescent 
East Yunnan fault 
Hukwang fault 
Hona7i fault ") 
Taihangschan (Tai- ' 
hang) fault J 
Khingan fault zone 
Aldan Range * 
K/iingan crescent 
South Stanoivoi 
(Stanovoi) crescent. 
North Stanoivoi 
(Stanovoi) crescent. 
7. Kolyjna step 
Without particular 
names 
southeast. In the mountainous region to the north and west 
of it are indicated the more important of the tectonic hues. 
Somewhat less Hkely to meet the eye of the geologist are 
the papers by v. Richtofen in the SitzungsbcricJitc of the Ber- 
lin Academy. The first of this series of three is devoted to the 
region represented in part upon the map which has been re- 
produced from Suess — what v. Richtofen has distinguished a? 
the interior series of Landstaffcin, a word which has here been 
translated landstcps. v. Richtofen shows that along a line 
nearly parallel with the Pacific coast of Asia there runs a 
series of contiguous and more or less crescent shaped plateaus 
(Landstaffein) all convex to the southeastward, v. Richtofen 
seems to regard it as significant that this series of landsteps 
extends across the continent so as closely to approximate to a 
great circle of the earth. 
The author's views are so fully summarized in the con- 
cluding section, that it is thought best to reproduce them en- 
tire in translation. The many dififerent spellings adopted 
by the different authors for Asiatic geographic names intro- 
duce the greatest confusion into^ the study. The translator 
* There appears to be an error here inasmuch as the Aldan Range is in the 
same latitude as Khingan Range, the error being to give the western rather 
than the eastern limit to the land step. The eastern limit is a northern section 
of the Stanowoi (Stanovoi) Range. — [Tka.nslatgr.] 
