RECONNAISSANCE IN SOUTHWEST LIAU-TUNG. 93 
quite exposed, but there are fault-planes in the lower layers of the quartzite 
which have the same inclination as the contact itself, and suggest the 
inference that the quartzite is overthrust upon the gneiss. 
Upon the quartzite lie at least 100 to 200 feet, 30 to 60 meters, of 
soft shales. Near the base these shales are sandy in composition, with 
gray and olive colors; higher in the sequence they are brownish and greenish, 
with occasional maroon-colored layers. Above them we found an alter- 
nation of olive and yellowish calcareous shales with gray, green, or buff 
limestones, calcareous argillites, and green and purple shales. The purple 
shales are in turn succeeded by a friable green grit, or earthy sandstone, 
which contains numerous thin beds of green shale. This phase of the 
formation prevails northwest of Wu-kia-tién, the strata lying in gentle 
folds. Some miles to the northwest more shaly limestones appear, as if 
overlying the shales and greenish sandstone; the wide alluvial flat which 
follows makes the relations of these and succeeding outcrops very uncertain. 
A prominent range of hills trending northeast-southwest is maintained by 
a member of white quartzite, grading upwards into sandstone, which 
appears buffish in weathered outcrops. On the southeast slope of the 
hills olive, brown, and yellow shales occur beneath the quartzite. To the 
northeast, after crossing the valley of the Fu-chéu-ho, additional out- 
crops of pure buff-colored sandstone were encountered. The strata dip 
gently northwest, parallel with the quartzite, and are supposed to overlie 
the latter. What intervenes between the two horizons I could not 
observe. In the hills immediately north of Fu-chéu the greenish argil- 
lites, limestones, and variegated shales, with thin interbedded quartz- 
ites, appear in highly inclined position. At this point, as already described, 
they are apparently overthrust from the north by the Yung-ning con- 
glomerate. Farther to the east, however, where the ridge was crossed 
by von Richthofen, the overthrust was not observed. 
The limestones and shales in this series were carefully searched in 
several places for fossils, but no traces of them were detected. It is also 
noteworthy that no igneous dikes were seen in this belt, although they are 
quite common to the north of it. 
We have no adequate data for estimating the thickness of the Fu-chéu 
series. ‘The strata are moderately folded, and in some cases highly tilted 
and contorted; and the existence of overthrusts is probable, though none 
were observed. 
On account of the absence of fossils and the unsatisfactory structural 
relations of the Fu-chdéu series to other formations, we must rely upon 
von Richthofen for an opinion as to its age. He reports finding the series 
conformable beneath rocks which contain Cambrian fossils.* He also 

* China, vol. 1, p, rro. 
