all such systems are important, the Proterozoic column This volume
concerns the geology of China, and it examinesthat concern by
expositionsofthe stratigraphy, possibly is unique in its continuous
sedimentary devel- the paleogeography, and the tectonics ofthat
remarkable opment and in its reference section of global rank. In
paleogeography, this volume describes and illustra- country. In this
sense, therefore, our aims and purposes are explicit in the title. The
senior author and his tes first the broad distribution of Proterozoic
deposits. colleagues, furthermore, do not have in mind any special
Succeeding descriptions and illustrations trace the ebb and flow of
shallow marine waters across China as or specific audience. This volume
is quite simply for all geologists. By far the majority will be those
whose Phanerozoic time of more than 600 million years elapses native
tongue is English, or those who understand from the beginning of the
Cambrian to the present. In structure, this volume emphasizes the
importance English. Not to be overlooked, moreover, is the large number
ofChinese geologists who not only read English of paraplatforms,
platforms, geosynclines, and great but also who themselves write studies
in English that east-west zones of fracture in the Precambian, also the
appear in publications in both their homeland and effects of these early
structural elements on structure abroad. in the ensuing Phanerozoic. In
the Phanerozoic itself, north-south stress developed in the
pre-Phanerozoic A constantly growing interest in the geology of China
continued through much of the Paleozoic.
