Basic Features of the Tectonic Structure of China (Preliminary Conclusions)

The paper is the preliminary draft of an explanatory text to a tectonic map of China, scale 1:3, 000, 000, in preparation as of September 1961. The stratigraphy and igneous and tectonic history of the principal structural units and provinces of China are summarized. The orogenic cycles which affected China include pre-Sinian, Caledonian, Variscan, Indo-Sinian, Yenshanian, and Himalayan. Polycyclicity of tectonic activity and a mechanism of continuous crustal stress with periods of more active deformation characterize the tectonic history of China. The Chinese equivalents of such Russian terms as "anteclise" and "syneclise" are explained and illustrated, as well as the differences between the paraplatforms and parageosynclines of China and orthoplatforms and orthogeos ynclines . - -W. D. Lowry.