34 RESEARCH IN CHINA. 
Ku-SHAN SHALE. 
Stratigraphy.—The second formation of the Kiu-lung group is the 
Ku-shan shale, so named from a village near which it is well exposed. 
It lies conformably upon the limestones. This terrane is usually about 
50 feet in thickness, but it is slightly variable in this respect as well as in 
its individual strata. ‘Thin calcareous shales of light green color prevail. 
Minor layers of brown, purplish, and even yellow shales, with a few seams 
of dense limestone, make up the remainder of this member. So far as 
our observations go the shales are barren of fossils. Thin limestones in 
this shale member are usually conglomeratic, but they are rarely oolitic. 
CH'AU-MI-TIEN LIMESTONE. 
Stratigraphy.—The third formation is the Ch’au-mi-tién limestone, 
which consists of the hard limestones that form the hills southeast and 
southwest of Ch’au-mi-tién. The rocks can be recognized in the field 
by the distinctly blue color of the exposures, while freshly fractured sur- 
faces are usually very dark gray and finely crystalline. A transition belt 
between the Ku-shan shale and this limestone is characterized by 40 feet, 
12 meters, of slabby limestones, which show preeminently the conglomeratic 
peculiarity. Two different phases of these conglomerates appear at this 
horizon. In one the pebbles are mostly less than 1 inch in length, are 
embedded in a dull olive-gray matrix, but are themselves dark red in color. 
This stain of iron peroxide does not penetrate deeply into the nodules, 
for in transverse sections it is seen that their centers are light colored. In 
this type of the conglomeratic limestones the pebble-like bodies are com- 
parable to large beans, both as to size and shape. In the other phase 
mentioned, the red coloration is lacking and the pebbles average more 
than 2 centimeters in length, with a maximum of about ro centimeters. 
They are flattish ellipsoidal or reniform. When the rock is viewed in hor- 
izontal section, as is frequently possible where it has been cut and polished 
in making monumental tablets, the concretions are seen to lie in no definite 
relation to each other, unless there be an obscure radiate arrangement. 
Their long axes point in almost every direction, some lying on edge, but the 
majority disposed with the flat sides parallel to the bedding. On weathered 
surfaces they stand out in relief, with external colors of dull russet or olive, 
and in their general aspect they resemble clastic conglomerates of the 
ordinary kind* (Plate LIII). 
Upon this succession of thin-bedded limestones follow the gray beds 
of the Ch’au-mi-tién limestone in typical development. The limestones 
* For detailed discussion of these conglomerates, see special report on Petrography. 
