Richmond Paper - The Coal-Fields of Northeastern China (Discussion, 1008)

This paper is devoted chiefly to the coal-fields of the western part of the province of Chili and the eastern part of the province of Shansi; but the outline of this belt will give some idea of the extension of the coal-fields over northeastern China. This part of China is topographically divided into: (1) the mountainous peninsula of eastern Shantung; (2) the coastal plains, extending W. and SW. from the gulf of Pechili; and (3) the mountains and table-lands N. and W. of the coastal plains. The plains extend N. and W. from the gulf to within from 10 to 25 miles of the Great Wall, while their SW. extension covers western Shantung and reaches W. along the Yellow river almost to the southern boundary of Shansi. A line joining the mapped coal-fields, shown in Fig. 1, almost gives the western boundary of the plains; since these areas lie on the border of the plains—except the Tsê Chou field, which is on the table-land, 20 to 25 miles from that border. The coal-fields which have been mapped and investigated by the author are shown in Fig. 1. The one at and around Tongshan is known as the K'ai-p'ing coal-field; the one W. of Peking has been called the Wang-p'ing coal-basin; the one SW. of Pao-ting and N. of Chêng-ting may be called the Lingshan coal-field; and the one at and around Tsê Chou is known as the Tsê Chou coal-field. I. The K'ai-p'ing Coal-Field. As is shown in Fig. 2, most of this field lies in the coastal plains, and is therefore covered by alluvium and loess, which have buried the older rock-beds, and the more gentle and older topographic outlines, to such an extent that most of the re-