Abstract

This paper summarizes recent progress in research on the Devonian system in East Asia.

The effect of the Kwangsi movement, which is roughly correlated with the European Caledonian movement, is widely recognized. The lowest Devonian as well as the uppermost Silurian sediments have never been proved to exist within this area.

In the Malayan Peninsula, Devonian rocks have been recognized at more and more localities during the past decade, but details of the biostratigraphy are still unknown. The red beds, which are situated between the Silurian graptolitic strata and the unfossiliferous Kanchanaburi Series, are unique in this district by virtue of their lithology and their narrow but extended distribution from north to south. Conodont-rich cherty rocks are associated with these beds in some places. The faunas consist mainly of trilobites, brachiopods, ostracods and pelecypods, all exhibiting rather poor speciation. However, they are characteristic in that, except for Posidonia shells, the fossils are of small size. The abundance of chonetids and ambocoeliids suggests a late Devonian if not an early Carboniferous age.

The Devonian-Carboniferous boundary problem in the Chinese mainland has long been discussed. Leptophloeum florules are widely distributed not only on the mainland but also in the Japanese Islands. It is noteworthy that these two occurrences differ mainly in that on the mainland the florules are found in non-marine deposits, while in the islands they occur in marine sediments, associated with brachiopods.