palaeogeography of china - connecting repositories · 2017-02-09 · vol. 1 no. 2 feng zengzhao et...

Journal of Palaeogeography2012, 1(2): 91-104

DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1261.2012.00008

Palaeogeography of China

Feng Zengzhao*, Zheng Xiujuan, Jin ZhenkuiChina University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China

Abstract Palaeogeography is a science that studies the features and evolution of physi-cal geography in geological history and human history. The palaeogeography of China has multiple disciplines and multiple types of palaeogeographic map. These perfectly reflect “a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought content”. The palaeogeography of China has three characteristics. The first is multiple disciplines flourishing simultaneously. The second is that lithofacies palaeogeography is in a leading position. The third is that palaeo-geography of China is closely connected with industrial practice. It is why palaeogeography, especially lithofacies palaeogeography of China, can flourish continually. We have two jour-nals of palaeogeography, i. e. Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) and Journal of Palaeogeography (English Edition). The former primarily publishes articles of Chinese authors regarding Chinese palaeogeography and related disciplines and has a foothold in China. The latter will publish the articles of both Chinese and international authors and caters to foreign readers. These two journals will cooperate together and display their own expertise, which will effectively make a great contribution to the development and innovation of Chinese palaeoge-ography and international palaeogeography.

Key words palaeogeography, palaeogeography of China, multiple disciplines, multiple palaeogeographic maps, three characteristics, two journals

1 Palaeogeography*

What is palaeogeography?According to the traditional definition, palaeogeog‑

raphy is a science that studies the physical geographical characteristics and their evolution in geological history pe‑riods (Feng, 1999a, 1999b). The geological history periods include all the geological history periods before the Qua‑ternary Holocene. The physical geographical characteris‑tics are the features and distribution of lands and seas, and those of their secondary units within the lands and seas. The evolution refers to the evolutionay rule of lands and seas as well as those secondary units in every geological history period. Obviously, the traditional definition of pal‑aeogeography fits in the category of geology.

* Corresponding author: Professor. Email: Jpalaeo2012@163. com. Received: 2012‑06‑09 Accepted: 2012‑06‑30

However, in December 2002, during the 197th Sympo‑sium of Xiangshan Science Conference “Reconstruction of Palaeogeography by Multi‑information” supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, both in the opening ad‑dress and in the closing speech, I significantly modified the definition of palaeogeography, i. e., “palaeogeography is a science that studies the characteristics and their evolution of physical geography in the geological history periods and in the human history periods. The geological history peri‑ods include all the geological history periods before the Quaternary Holocene. The human history periods are as‑signed to the historical periods of humankind activity after the Quaternary Holocene. The Quaternary was the transi‑tional time interval for the two historical periods. The two historical periods are both “palaeo”. The characteristics of physical geography are the features and distributions of lands and seas, and those of their secondary units within the lands and seas, for example, the characteristics and

Palaeogeography

92 Oct. 2012JOURNAL OF PALAEOGEOGRAPHY

distributions of the eroded areas and sedimentary areas of rivers, lakes, and deserts in the lands and the sedimentary areas of the littoral sea, the shallow sea, and the deep sea in the seas. On the surface of the Earth, the characteristics and distributions of the present physical geographical units are the evolutionay results of the geological history and the human history. In other words, the present geographi‑cal environments have evolved from the palaeogeographic environments of geological history periods and of human history periods. This is the historical relationship of the “past” and the “present”.

Through the open discussion, scientists who attended the 197th Symposium of Xiangshan Science Conference have reached an agreement on the modified definition of palaeogeography (Feng, 2003).

This is a significant modification because the charac‑teristics and evolution of physical geography in human history periods are included in the study domain of palaeo‑geography. This is an important expansion of palaeogeog‑raphy. Palaeogeography not only belongs to geology, but it also extends into the domain of physical geography. In addition, it also involves the domain of social science (the palaeogeography of human history periods).

Therefore, since 2003, some new columns appeared in the Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition), such as “the human history palaeogeography” and “past and present geographic environments and human civilization”. Utilizing the documents of human history, the archaeolog‑ical materials, and the remote sensing data, the articles that study the characteristics and evolution of physical geog‑raphy (including palaeoclimatology), from the past few millennia to the past few centuries, and even to the past few decades, appeared in the Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) and have been increasing progressively. This is the beginning of a significant expansion. We are cheerfully and carefully guiding the occurrence and de‑velopment of this new event to take place and to develop within the domain of palaeogeography.

Palaeogeography interacts with numerous disciplines, such as historical geology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, tectonics, petrology, sedimentology, physical geography, oceanography, biology, climatology, astronomy, geochem‑istry, geophysics, palaeoanthropology, archaeology, history, remote sensing, mineral deposits geology, petroleum geol‑ogy, coal geology, environmental geology, and science of natural disasters. It is a highly comprehensive discipline in the Earth sciences. Palaeogeography mainly belongs to geology, but it also concerns physical geography and hu‑man historical geography. Palaeogeography not only has

important scientific significance, but also has important practical implication. In addition, it also closely relates to the past and present physical geographic environments on which the human beings and all organisms depend for a living. Thus, palaeogeography is one of the most impor‑tant branches of the Earth sciences.

2 Multiple sources and multiple disci-plines of palaeogeography

The palaeogeography of China has multiple sources and multiple disciplines. Since it primarily comes from stratigraphy, historical geology, tectonics, palaeontology, sedimentology, physical geography, and human historical geography, therefore, the related disciplines of palaeoge‑ography of China, such as stratigraphic palaeogeography, tectonopalaeogeography, biopalaeogeography, lithofacies palaeogeography, physiogeographic palaeogeography, and human historical palaeogeography, are formed.

2.1 Stratigraphic palaeogeography

In Stratigraphy of China (Grabau, 1924-1928), five palaeogeographic maps of the Carboniferous, the Permian, and the Early Triassic were composed. All these palaeo‑geographic maps were the distribution maps of lands and seas. These were the first published maps of stratigraphic palaeogeography in China.

In the historical geology textbooks edited by Wang (1956), Wang and Liu (1980), and Liu (1986), the outline of palaeogeography in the geologic periods was discussed and mapped. In this way, the stratigraphic palaeogeogra‑phy in China was formed and developed.

Distribution and Palaeogeography of Coal‑bearing Stratigraphy of the Upper Paleozoic (Wang, 1959) was the early monograph of stratigraphic palaeogeography in China.

In the 1980s to 1990s, palaeogeographic maps and re‑lated descriptions which were based on regional stratigra‑phy, were available in the Regional Geology of provinces and autonomous regions.

Recently, as a branch of stratigraphy, sequence stratig‑raphy has developed rapidly. In fact, it is a joint discipline of stratigraphy and sedimentology. The articles and mono‑graphs that discussed the sedimentary facies and palaeo‑geography from the sequence stratigraphic point of view have been regularly published and gradually increased; for example, Sequence Stratigraphy in Outcrop and the Devonian Palaeogeography of the Huanan Basin (Xu et al., 1993), Devonian Sequence Stratigraphy and Sea Level

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Change of South China (Wu et al., 1997), Sequence Strati‑graphic Framework and Its Palaeogeographical Back‑ground for the Sinian of Upper Yangtze Region (Mei et al., 2006), Sequence Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography of South China (Ma et al., 2009). These publications all fall into the domain of stratigraphic palaeogeography.

2.2 Tectonopalaeogeography

In On Major Tectonic Forms of China (Huang, 1945), T. K. Huang composed five palaeogeographic maps of the Cambrian, the Caledonian Devonian, the Variscan Per‑mian, the Yanshanian Cretaceous, and the Himalayan, to illustrate the distribution of lands and seas of these tectonic periods. These were the earliest tectonopalaeogeographic maps in China.

The Atlas of the Paleogeography of China (Wang, 1985), which is guided by the plate tectonic theory and based on the numerous data of regional geologic surveys, is a representative work of the tectonopalaeogeography in China.

The Physical Geography of China·Palaeogeography (Part 2) (Cui, 1986), Evolution of the Tethys Sea of Chi‑na and Adjacent Regions (Huang and Chen, 1987), Tec‑tonopalaeogeography and Biopalaeogeography of China and Adjacent Regions (Wang et al., 1990), Tectonic Pal‑aeogeography Pattern of Tethys Archipelagic Ocean in Western Yunnan (Liu et al., 1991a), Stratigraphy, Paleo‑geography and Plate Tectonic in Northwest China (Zhou and Lin, 1995), South China Defined as Part of Tethyan Archipelagic Ocean System (Yin et al., 1999), Mobilistic Tectono‑Paleogeography and Marine Hydrocarbon Ac‑cumulation in Superimposed Basins in China (Li, 2006a), Tectonic‑Lithofacies Palaeogeography of Pre‑Mesozoic in China (Zheng and Hu, 2010), On Paleogeographic Recon‑struction: An Example for Application in Tibetan Tethys (Wang et al., 2010), and many other monographs and ar‑ticles that discussed palaeogeography based on tectonic data, theory and point of view, all belong to the domain of tectonopalaeogeography.

Recently, some geologists dedicate more attention to the study of palaeogeography in orogenic regions, and attempt to reconstruct palaeogeography by restoring the strata that were disarrayed in geochronology, displaced in space, and distorted or even absent in sequences. A new discipline, orogenic palaeogeography, has thus been cre‑ated in the domain of tectonopalaeogeography (Wu, 2003, 2005, 2007).

Recently, the articles about the seismic records in strata of geological periods (usually, they are called seismites)

gradually increased. The Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) (Vol. 13, 2011) collectively published eight articles about palaeoearthquakes, which included Go Ahead, Researches on Palaeoearthquake in China (Feng, 2011), in order to further promote palaeoearthquake studies in China. By the end of 2011, no less than 123 palaeoearth‑quake articles were published in Chinese journals. In tec‑tonopalaeogeography, this domain not only has theoretical significance, but also has important practical influence.

At present, the tectonopalaeogeography in China has combined and interacted with many other disciplines, such as sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeontology, plate tecton‑ics, palaeoseismology, and geophysics. The study mainly focuses on the reconstruction of global palaeocontinents, tectonopalaeogeography of the Tethys archipelagic ocean, orogenic palaeogeography, and palaeoearthquakes. This is a very active discipline of palaeogeography in China.

2.3 Biopalaeogeography

The Atlas of Paleogeography of China (Liu, 1955) based on the palaeontology data (mainly locations of ma‑rine fossils) is the formal starting point of palaeogeogra‑phy in China. It created the discipline of biopalaeogeog‑raphy in China.

The books about biotic–environment cybernetics (Lu, 1974, 1976, 1979), Biopalaeogeography of China (Yin, 1988), Coral System Evolution and Biopalaeogeography of Paleozoic in China (Wang, 1989), Tectonopalaeoge‑ography and Biopalaeogeography of China and Adjacent Regions (Wang et al., 1990), and various palaeontologic and palaeoecologic papers and monographs discussing palaeogeographic environments all belong to the domain of biopalaeogeography. The biopalaeogeography is an im‑portant discipline of palaeogeography in China. It is thriv‑ing at all times.

Lately, the papers that utilized palaeontologic data and trace fossils to study the sedimentary environments, sedi‑mentary facies, palaeoclimatology, and palaeogeography in present time, in human history periods, and in geologic history periods, such as Yang (1999), Wu (1999), Yang et al. (2001), Xu et al. (2001), Jin et al. (2003), Yang et al. (2004), Yang et al. (2006), Deng (2007), Gao et al. (2007), gradually increased. This is an energetic trend in the do‑main of biopalaeogeography in China.

The monograph of the Rehe Biota (Ji et al., 2004 Zhang 2001) the monograph of the Chengjiang Biota (Liu 2000) and the monograph of the Guanling Biota (Wang et al., 2004; Wang, 2005) are associated with the palaeo‑geographic environments in which those organisms lived.


These studies promoted the development of biopalaeoge‑ography in China.

In the monograph, Climatic Evolution of the Paleozoic in China (Chen et al., 2001), the authors systematically studied and restored the palaeoclimatology of geological periods of the Paleozoic in China by utilizing Climatical‑ly sensitive sedimentary rocks and sedimentary minerals (such as coal, bauxite, evaporite minerals, tillite, oolitic limestone, oolitic hematite, and reef) and the data of pal‑aeontology. In another monograph, Phanerozoic Global Climatic Reconstruction (Boucot et al., 2009), the authors further developed the method of using climatically sensi‑tive sediments to reconstruct the palaeoclimatology in the geologic periods. It seems that the palaeontologists are more “sensitive” than our sedimentologists about the study of palaeoclimatology.

In the monograph, Geobiology of the Earth (Xie et al., 2011), the authors systematically discussed how vari‑ous living organisms and human activity influenced the life system and the environmental system on the Earth throughout the geological history and human history. This book exploited new research ideas and new frontiers in the study of biopalaeogeography.

At present, the biopalaeogeography in China is devel‑oping for combining and integrating with palaeogeogra‑phy, palaeontology, palaeoclimatology and tectonics. It is an important discipline of palaeogeography in China.

2.4 Lithofacies palaeogeography

The detailed discussions and maps of sedimentary fa‑cies and lithofacies palaeogeography were presented in textbooks of Sedimentary Petrology edited by the Mineral‑ogy and Petrology Section of Beijing Petroleum Institute (1961), by the Mineralogy and Petrology Section of East China Petroleum Institute (1982), and by Feng (1993). In this fashion, the lithofacies palaeogeography or sedimen‑tary palaeogeography was created and developed in China.

In China, the early published works regarding lithofa‑cies palaeogeography were Lithofacies Palaeogeography of Carboniferous in North China Platform (Wang, 1964) and Cambrian Palaeogeography and Lithofacies of China (Lu et al., 1965).

Additionally, many monographs came out one after another, which greatly enriched and developed Chinese lithofacies palaeogeography. These publications included The Changes of Land and Sea, Marine Sedimentary Facies and Hydrocarbon in China (Guan et al., 1984), Research of Lithofacies Palaeogeography of Coal‑bearing Forma‑tions of Junggar Coal Field (Liu et al., 1991b), Atlas of

Lithofacies Palaeogeography of Guizhou Province (Geol‑ogy Survey Team of Bureau of Geology and Mineral Re‑sources of Guizhou Province, 1992), Sedimentary Crust Evolution and Mineralization of Palaeocontinent in South China (Liu et al., 1993), Atlas of the Palaeogeography of South China (Liu and Xu, 1994), Atlas of the Sedimentary Facies and Palaeogeography of Yunnan (Geological Min‑eral Bureau of Yunnan Province, 1995), Sedimentology of Palaeocontinent and Continental Margin in China (Zeng et al., 1996), and Sequence Stratigraphy and Palaeogeog‑raphy of South China (Ma et al., 2009).

Feng Zengzhao and his research team sequentially pub‑lished many monographs regarding lithofacies palaeoge‑ography that included the geologic periods of the Cambri‑an, Ordovician, Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic, and that enclosed the areas of North China, South China, and Northwest China (Feng et al., 1988, 1990, 1991a, 1991b, 1994a, 1994b, 1997a, 1997b, 1998a, 1998b, 2000, 2001, and 2005). In addition, Feng Zengzhao and his research team also published monographs of lithofacies palaeoge‑ography of the whole China, i. e. the Lithofacies Palaeoge‑ography of the Cambrian and Ordovician in China (Feng et al., 2004). In these monographs, the lithofacies palaeo‑geographic maps are quantitative. Quantity means that the identification of every palaeogeographic unit is based on accurate quantitative data. It indicated that the study of lithofacies palaeogeography in China was advanced into the stage of quantity. Hence, the quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography was established. This was an important and influential development in lithofacies palaeogeogra‑phy and in palaeogeography.

In the last twelve years (2000-2011), the Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) published 230 articles regarding lithofacies palaeogeography, which contained more than 20 articles written by Feng Zengzhao et al. . Also, the Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) published 114 articles regarding the prediction, explora‑tion and development of mineral resources (such as petro‑leum, natural gas, coal, uranium, and salt) from the view of lithofacies palaeogeography.

In China, as a discipline of palaeogeography, the re‑search of lithofacies palaeogeography not only contains the largest group of scientists with plentiful research re‑sults, numerous monographs and papers, but also benefits the associated industry practice.

2.5 Physiogeographic palaeogeography

The articles of Zhou (1960, 1963, 1983) were the initial studies of physiogeographic palaeogeography in China.


These articles expressed the idea “ Past is the key to the present and the future ”.

The Palaeogeography (Zhou, 1982), Physical Geography of China·Palaeogeography (part I ) (Zhou and Ren, 1984) and Physical Geography of China·Palaeogeography (Part II ) (Cui, 1986) are the representative monographs of physi‑ogeographic palaeogeography in China.

Since the 1980s, physiogeographic palaeogeography has expanded into the research of environmental change, which extended the study field from the modern physio‑ geographic environment into the human–earth system (or human–environment system). The Physical Geography in Time Perspective (Fang, 2007), The Climate and Environ‑ments of Holocene Megathermal (Shi, 1992), and Study of Environment Changes (Zhang, 1992) are the representa‑tives of this subject.

The overlapping and integrating of physiogeographic palaeogeography and Quaternary palaeogeography is an important feature of physiogeographic palaeogeography in China.

The Quaternary palaeogeography in China includes two important study fields; one is the uplift of the Tibetan Pla‑teau and the other is the loess sediments.

The uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is the critical factor for the Quaternary environmental development in China. Furthermore, it also imposes a significant influence on the development of the Quaternary physiogeographic environ‑ment in Asia and around the world. The Uplift and Envi‑ronmental Changes of Tibetan Plateau in the Late Ceno‑zoic (Shi et al., 1998) and the Uplift of Tibetan Plateau and Environment Evolution of Asia (Li, 2006b) are the conclu‑sions of the field of study.

The loess sediments are an important geologic event con‑cerning the Quaternary palaeogeography and sedimentol‑ogy in China. The Loess Accumulating in China, the Loess and Environment, and the Loess and Arid Environment (Liu et al., 1965, 1985, 2009) are the distinctive research works in this field.

2.6 Human historical palaeogeography

The Primary Research on Climate Changes in Recent 5000 Years of China (Chu, 1972) has the initial research work of human historical palaeogeography (mainly pal‑aeoclimatology) in China.

The following monographs further developed the study of human historical palaeoclimatology in China: Yearly Charts of Dryness/Wetness in China for the Last 500‑Years Period (Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science, 1981), Study of Historical Climate Change in China (Man,

2009), and Climate Changes Through Dynasties of China (Ge et al., 2011).

Physical Geography of China·Historic Physical Ge‑ography (Tan, 1982) was the representative work of human historical physiogeographic palaeogeography in China.

In recent years, many researchers have published more and more articles regarding the palaeoenvironment, pal‑aeoclimatology, palaeoecology, and the past and present geographic environment and human civilization in the Chinese human historical period, from the past few mil‑lenniums to the past few centuries, or even to the past few decades. Since 2004, the Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) has published more than 50 articles in this study field. Herein, we only select the following nine articles as a brief introduction to the readers. These arti‑cles are: Progress and prospect of researches on impacts of environmental changes on Chinese civilization (Fang et al., 2004), Impact of Eldgjά eruption of Iceland in tenth century on palaeoclimate in China (Fei et al., 2004), His‑torical natural landscape of Tongwancheng Area in North Shaanxi Province and migration rate of Mau Us Desert (Sun et al., 2004), Discussion on palaeoclimate of Jinsha Site in Chengdu in 3000 a BP (Yao et al., 2005), Remote sensing monitoring study for water area change and lake‑shore evolution of Qinghai Lake in last 20 years (Feng and Li, 2006), Climate, vegetation and geomorphology evolu‑tion since 8 ka BP recorded by sediments from dish‑like depression of Taihu Lake Plain (Zhao et al., 2007), His‑torical changes of Yellow River and their impact on devel‑opment of the Chinese Nation (Yang, 2008), Abrupt cli‑mate change and decline of ancient civilization (Wu et al., 2009), and Climate and environment of the Neolithic Age in Haidai Region (Jin and Wang, 2010).

These articles actively promote the study of human his‑torical palaeogeography in China. This new discipline of palaeogeography not only has theoretical significance, but also has practical implications.

Finally, we would like to mention The Historical Atlas of China (Part 1 to Part 8) (Tan, 1984-1987). This atlas collected a set of administrative territorial maps of each dynasty in the Chinese history. It should belong to a broad domain of palaeogeography and should fit into the field of social science. It does not belong to the domain of palaeo‑geography of natural science. However, it is definitely a grand monograph in the broad sense of palaeogeography with important significance.

The scientists who engaged in the study of physiogeo‑graphic palaeogeography, Quaternary palaeogeography, and human historical palaeogeography usually are geographers.


They study mainly the sediments, palaeoenvironments, pal‑aeoclimatology, and palaeogeography of the Quaternary and of the human historical period. These study fields form a series of conjunctional points between geology and geog‑raphy, between geologic historical palaeogeography and hu‑man historical palaeogeography, between past and present. These are important conjunctions. We should pay more at‑tention to them and promote their development.

In general, the disciplines discussed above are only di‑vided by their primary aspects or primary characteristics. Actually, each palaeogeographic monograph and related palaeogeographic maps have covered several research dis‑ciplines, which could not be embraced by one or two dis‑ciplines alone. The later the published palaeogeographic monographs and maps, the more they contain various dis‑ciplines. For example, the Atlas of the Palaeogeography of China (Wang, 1985), not only used tectonics as the prima‑ry theory, but also adopted many ideas and data from other disciplines, such as stratigraphy, historical geology, palae‑ontology, petrology and sedimentology. Another example, The Changes of Land and Sea, Marine Sedimentary Facies and Hydrocarbon in China (Guan et al., 1984), not only used sedimentary facies as the principal hypothesis, but also applied the opinions and data from tectonics, stratig‑raphy, and petroleum geology. Furthermore, the hypothesis of the Tethys archipelagic ocean in South China proposed by Liu et al. (1991a) and by Yin et al. (1999), was primar‑ily developed on the foundation of biopalaeogeography. In the book Atlas of the Palaeogeography of South China (Liu and Xu, 1994), tectonopalaeogeography was applied. In the book Sequence Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography of South China (Ma et al., 2009), tectonopalaeogeography and sequence stratigraphy were utilized. These examples confirm that palaeogeography is a highly comprehensive branch in Earth sciences.

Over all, the palaeogeography of China has multi‑ple sources, multiple disciplines and multiple research domains. From different points of view, theories, and methods, based on different purposes, and on different data, various authors conducted scientific researches and made palaeogeographic maps of different areas, of dif‑ferent geologic periods and of human historical periods. Furthermore, according to the study results and maps, the authors wrote monographs and theses, which made great contribution to the prediction and exploration of mineral resources, and for protecting and improving the geograph‑ic environments on which human beings and other organ‑isms depend. Thus, the palaeogeography of China displays an inspiring situation of fruitful research results with both

scientific and social effects. This situation of palaeogeog‑raphy in China is unique in international palaeogeography.

3 Various palaeogeographic maps

In the study of palaeogeography, the palaeogeographic map is the most important. It is the concentrated expres‑sion of study results. It is the growing point of palaeoge‑ography.

There are many types of palaeogeographic map, such as the map of stratigraphic palaeogeography, the map of tectonopalaeogeography, the map of biopalaeogeography, the map of lithofacies palaeogeography, the palaeogeo‑graphic map in small scale and large scale, the qualita‑tive or schematic palaeogeographic map, the quantitative palaeogeographic map, the palaeogeographic map of pre‑sent boundary, the palaeogeographic map of non‑present boundary, the palaeogeographic map of “fixism”, the pal‑aeogeographic map of “mobilism”, the palaeogeographic map of different periods, and the palaeogeographic map of different areas.

In general, the map of stratigraphic palaeogeography, the map of tectonopalaeogeography, and the map of bio‑palaeogeography, especially the map made in the early times, are the qualitative or schematic palaeogeographic maps in small scale. The small scale map means that the scale of map is less than 1:18,000,000 or even smaller. The qualitative map means that the map lacks quantitative data regarding the classification and boundary of each major palaeogeographic unit. The schematic palaeogeographic map is much plainer, which is no more than an outline dia‑gram. Most of these palaeogeographic maps are the dis‑tribution map of lands and seas or the distribution map of palaeontologic division. The inadequacy of these palaeo‑geographic maps is caused by the lower standard of entry level during the early time of palaeogeography in China. From the historical point of view, under the circumstance of that time, it was not easy and even rather difficult for geologists to compose these small scales, qualitative, or schematic palaeogeographic maps.

Later, along with the progress of research work in the field of palaeogeography and geology, and because of the requirement from industry, especially the demand from oil and gas exploration, some large scale palaeogeo‑graphic maps and quantitative palaeogeographic maps be‑gan to appear. Generally speaking, the map of lithofacies palaeogeography has large scales, such as 1:5,000,000, 1:2,500,000, 1:1,000,000 and even larger scale.

The maps of lithofacies palaeogeography that were


composed by Feng Zengzhao and his research team are in large scale. These maps are quantitative maps with multi‑ple ranks and multiple types. Quantity means that the clas‑sification and identification of each palaeogeographic unit are supported by reliable quantitative data and the quanti‑tative single factor maps. Multiple ranks mean that in the palaeogeographic map, the palaeogeographic units can be classified into three ranks or more ranks. For instance, the lands and seas are first defined and they are the first rank. In the sea, the platforms, basins and slopes can be defined and they are the second rank. In the platform, the flats, banks, reefs and so on, can be defined and they are the third rank. In some cases, in the flat, the lakes or lagoons can be defined and they are the fourth rank. Multiple types mean that according to the lithologic characteristics, the platform can be classified into the clastic rock platform, carbonate rock platform, etc. ; the basin can be classified into the mudstone basin, the carbonate rock basin, the chert basin, the volcanic clastic rock basin, etc. ; the flat can be classified into the mudstone flat, the dolostone flat, etc. ; the bank can be classified into the sand‑sized intra‑clast bank (penebank, embryonic bank), the bioclast bank (penebank, embryonic bank), the oolite bank (penebank, embryonic bank). Compared with the small scale, qualita‑tive or schematic distribution maps of lands and seas, the lithofacies palaeogeographic maps with large scale quan‑titative, multiple ranks and multiple types, are much more detailed and much more fine, which have the guidable sig‑nificance to the prediction and exploration for petroleum, coal and other mineral resources. This is the basic reason why lithofacies palaeogeography is exceptionally successful.

The palaeogeographic map of present boundary adopts the coordinate system of present latitude and longitude, and the boundary of the map is in accordance with the present boundary of countries, provinces, some definite areas, or even with the tectonic boundary. Most lithofacies palaeogeographic maps are the palaeogeographic maps of the present boundary. The palaeogeographic maps of the present boundary are most useful for the prediction and exploration of mineral resources.

The palaeogeographic map of non‑present boundary represents the relative positions of old lands during the certain geologic period based on the palaeolatitude data of those old lands. The palaeolatitude information of old lands are determined by the palaeomagnetic data. How‑ever, it is impossible to determine the accurate positions of old lands if only based on the palaeolatitude data without the palaeolongitude data. Thus, in this kind of palaeogeo‑graphic map, the positions of old lands are relative and the

old lands can be moved along the palaeolatitude randomly. Most palaeogeographic maps of non‑present boundary are the global maps, or at least, the maps of one or a few plates. The scale of these maps is very small. They are all schematic maps.

Some palaeogeographers called the palaeogeographic map of non‑present boundary as the palaeogeographic map of “mobilism”. On the other hand, they called the palaeogeographic map of the present boundary as the pal‑aeogeographic map of “fixism”. Moreover, they also fa‑vor the palaeogeographic map of “mobilism” and belittle the palaeogeographic map of “fixism”. Actually, the terms “mobilism” and “fixism” are inadequate, and the inclina‑tion of favor and belittle is inappropriate as well.

Mostly, the palaeogeographic map of “mobilism” dis‑plays the moving path of some old lands or plates along the geologic timeline, which is very visual and very imaginative, which is praiseworthy. However, it certainly has problems, the biggest problem is too “mobile” and too random.

All types of palaeogeographic maps emerged during the establishment and development of the disciplines of palaeogeography of China. Every type has its own char‑acteristics. They are supplementary to each other. The oc‑currence of multiple types of palaeogeographic maps per‑fectly reflected the palaeogeography of China to adhere to the principle “a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought content”. Therefore, the palaeogeogra‑phy in China displays a flourishing scene.

4 Characteristics of the palaeogeogra-phy of China

The palaeogeography of China has three characteristics.First, multiple disciplines flourish simultaneously. These

disciplines are stratigraphic palaeogeography, tectono‑palaeogeography, biopalaeogeography, lithofacies palaeo‑geography, physiogeography palaeogeography, and hu‑man historical palaeogeography. After their establishment and development, these disciplines have progressed to the mature stage in their research fields with the representative publications. They all contribute to the development and innovation of palaeogeography of China from different as‑pects. Now, they all proceed actively along their own path. This is the flourishing of multiple disciplines.

Second, one discipline is in a leading position. Litho‑facies palaeogeography, especially quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography, is in a leading position among many dis‑ciplines of palaeogeography in China. At present, quan‑titative palaeogeographic maps and monographs of some


geological periods of some regions and of all of China are published. These maps and monographs were made and compiled by Feng Zengzhao et al. . The quantitative meth‑odology “single factor analysis and multifactor compre‑hensive mapping method” has matured (Feng, 1977, 1979, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1994, 2004). Thus, quantitative palaeo‑geography has been established, which has been applied to the exploration and development of petroleum industry with excellent study results. This is one leading discipline.

However, this is only an initial phase for the leading position, because in the broad region of China, the maps of quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography for the Cambrian and the Ordovician are merely finished. It has a long way to go and it requires more enormous investments in order to compile the maps of quantitative lithofacies palaeoge‑ography of major geologic periods for all of China. This is “not half of my pioneering enterprise” (Feng, 2006).

Third, it is a guide to mineral resources exploration. More than half a century ago, Xie Jiarong (a famous Chi‑nese geologist) proposed the “palaeogeography as a guide to mineral exploration” (Hsieh, 1948). The “mineral ex‑ploration” is referred to the prediction and exploration of mineral resources; the “guide” means to direct. At that time, the mineral exploration examples that Mr. Xie point‑ed out in his article are coal (the Huainan Coal Field was discovered by Mr. Xie), bauxite, sedimentary phosphorite, sedimentary iron deposits, and sedimentary copper depos‑its. It was the first time that a Chinese geologist openly proposed the directional proposition “palaeogeography as a guide to mineral exploration”. At present, the mineral resources explorations that are guided by palaeogeography have spread to all kinds of mineral resources, especially to the oil and gas. The Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) has a column on “palaeogeography and mineral resources” and it publishes articles discussing how the palaeogeography guides the prediction and exploration of oil and gas and other mineral resources. Palaeogeography closely connected to industrial practice is one of the most important characteristics of Chinese palaeogeography (es‑pecially lithofacies palaeogeography). It is the important reason that the palaeogeography of China, especially the lithofacies palaeogeography, can flourish continually.

5 Conferences of palaeogeography

In the October, 1985, the National Conference of Lithofa‑cies Palaeogeography was in session in Guiyang, Guizhou Province. This conference was sponsored by the Sedimen‑tology Committee of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy,

Petrology and Geochemistry and the Sedimentary Geol‑ogy Committee of Geological Society of China. This is the first national palaeogeographic conference in China.

After that, the second to eleventh national conferences were continually conducted. Table 1 shows the details of these academic meetings.

The Twelfth National Conference of Palaeogeography and Sedimentology will be carried out in Qingdao, Shan‑dong Province, in October, 2012.

The second to fifth national conferences were spon‑sored by the Sedimentology Committee of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry. The sixth to eleventh national conferences were sponsored by the Lithofacies Palaeogeography Committee of the Chi‑nese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry. The twelfth national conference will also be sponsored by the Lithofacies Palaeogeography Committee of Mineral‑ogy, Petrology and Geochemistry. In more than twenty years, the sub‑units of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry, i.e. the Sedimentology Com‑mittee and the Lithofacies Palaeogeography Committee, sponsored more than ten sessions of national conferences and will sponsor the conferences continuously. In the field of Earth sciences of China, this is unique.

In the more than twenty years, the conference name was changed two times. The first conference name was the National Conference of Lithofacies Palaeogeography. The second conference continued to use the same name. But in the third conference, its name was changed to the National Conference of Sedimentology and Lithofacies Palaeogeography. It is reasonable to add the sedimentol‑ogy, because sedimentology has close relation with litho‑facies palaeogeography. However, it is unsuitable to po‑sition sedimentology before lithofacies palaeogeography, because this arrangement doesn’t fit the original intention to establish the National Conference of Lithofacies Palae‑ogeography. Owing to some reason, this unsuitable name was used in the fourth and fifth conferences continuously. In the sixth conference, the Lithofacies Palaeogeography Committee as the new first sponsor, changed the confer‑ence name to the National Conference of Palaeogeog‑raphy and Sedimentology. This was the second time to change the conference name. This change is reasonable and suitable. It is an important expansion and progress. From this time on, the succeeded conferences all used this name.

These national conferences of palaeogeography greatly promoted the development and innovation of Chinese pal‑aeogeography.


Table 1 The National Conferences of Palaeogeography

Name of Conference Time Location HostsNumber

of Articles

Number of Attendees Chairmen Field Trips

National Conference of Lithofacies Palaeogeography

October, 1985 Guiyang Geological Society of

Guizhou 288 181 Liao Shifan6 field trips in Guizhou Province

2nd National Conference of Lithofacies Palaeogeography

April, 1990 XuzhouChina University of Mining and Technology

234 240Feng Zengzhao, Wang Yinghua, Liu Huanjie

Lianyungang

3rd National Conference of Sedimentology and Lithofacies Palaeogeography

October, 1992 Chengdu

Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resource

305 358 Liu Baojun Jiuzhaigou

4th National Conference of Sedimentology and Lithofacies Palaeogeography

August, 1995 Beijing China University of

Petroleum (Beijing) 228 164 Feng Zengzhao Shanhaiguan,Luanhe

5th National Conference of Sedimentology and Lithofacies Palaeogeography

August, 1997 Urumqi

Bureau of Petroleum Management of Xinjiang

158 134 Wang Yilin, Feng Zengzhao

Karamay,Turpan,Tianshan Mountain

6th National Conference of Palaeogeography and Sedimentology

August, 2000 Panjin Liaohe Oilfield 103 94 Liu Junrong,

Feng ZengzhaoDalian,Jinshitan


August, 2002 Dunhuang Qinghai Oilfield 124 122 Huang Ligong,

Feng ZengzhaoYumenguan,Yangguan


August, 2004 Daqing Daqing Oilfield 133 242 Hou Qijun,

Feng ZengzhaoWudalianchi,Miaohe


August, 2006 Xi′an

Northwest University and Changqing Oilfield

173 249Zhu Kexiao,Yang Hua,Feng Zengzhao

Huangling,Yichuan,Yan’an


September, 2008 Chengdu

Southwest Oil and Gas Field of Sinopec 193 185 Ma Yongsheng,

Bao Zhidong

Ganxi,Emeishan,Jiuzhaigou


October, 2010 Jingzhou

Yangtze University and Jianghan Oilfield 312 326

Zhang Changmin,Yi Jizheng,Bao Zhidong

Zhangjiajie,Shennongjia

Notice: The first sponsor for 1st – 5th conferences was the Sedimentology Committee of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy Petrology and Geochemistry. The first sponsor for 6th – 11th conferences was the Lithofacies Palaeogeography Committee of the Chinese Society for Min‑eralogy Petrology and Geochemistry.


6 Two journals of palaeogeography

We have two journals of palaeogeography, i. e. Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) and Journal of Pal‑aeogeography (English Edition).

The Journal of Palaeogeography (Chinese Edition) was launched in 1999 (Feng, 1999a). It was the only academic periodical in the domain of palaeogeography of China. Now it is one of the core journals in China and has made great contribution to the development and innovation of palaeogeography of China (Feng, 1996, 2003, 2009).

However, due to the language barrier, the scientific communication with foreign countries was insufficient. This shortage to some extent, hindered not only the devel‑opment of palaeogeography in China, but also the contri‑bution to international palaeogeography.

Now, the Journal of Palaeogeography (English Edi‑tion) has been launched in 2012 (Feng and Bao, 2012). It has three missions. The first mission is to encourage articles of Chinese palaeogeography to go abroad by the journal, and let foreign readers know more about Chinese palaeogeography. The second mission is to encourage ar‑ticles of foreign palaeogeography to come to China by the journal, and let Chinese readers and foreign readers know more about the palaeogeography of other countries and ar‑eas. The third mission is to promote the communication, cooperation and integration between these two sides, in order to make a great contribution to the development and innovation of Chinese and international palaeogeography.

The three missions are important and glorious but dif‑ficult.

These two journals have different aims, emphases and characteristics. The Journal of Palaeogeography (Chi‑nese Edition) primarily publishes the articles of Chinese authors regarding the Chinese palaeogeography and has a foothold in China. The Journal of Palaeogeography (Eng‑lish Edition) will publish the articles of both Chinese and international authors and it mainly caters to foreign read‑ers. These two journals will co‑operate together and will display their own expertise, which will effectively make a great contributions to the development and innovation of Chinese palaeogeography and international palaeogeog‑raphy. Naturally, one journal of a single language cannot accomplish these tasks simultaneously.

Congratulations on the two journals of palaeogeography!Congratulations on the launch of the Journal of Palaeo‑

geography (English Edition).Congratulations on the development and innovation of

Chinese palaeogeography and international palaeogeogra‑phy!

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Professor Liu Benpei, Professor Yang Shouren and Professor Fang Xiuqi. They provided some important data in tectonopalaeogeography, biopalae‑ogeography, physiogeographic palaeogeography and hu‑man historical palaeogeography. These data enriched and improved this paper in those disciplines.

We also sincerely thank Professor Ian D. Somerville, Professor Spencer G. Lucas, Professor A. J. (Tom) van Loon and Ms. Dechin Wang. They made many contribu‑tions to the English language.

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(Edited by Wang Yuan, Liu Min)

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