ASIATIC DESERT YIELDS TRACES OF ANCIENT SEA

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6849, 2 March 1929, Page 11

ASIATIC DESERT YIELDS TRACES OF ANCIENT SEA

SWEDISH EXPLORERS SHED NEW LIGHT ON GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OP EARTH. STOCKHOLM, Jan. 31. The whole of tho great Takin-Maklan desert was formerly a vast inland sea, according to Dr. E. Norin, geologist of Dr. Svedin Hedin’s central Asiatic expedition. This expedition, the first in which the great Swedish explorer has been accompanied by a staff of specialists, has been studying the northern slopes of the Himalayas. .Some of its results have been analysed by Prof. Gerad do Geer in the Dagens Nyheter. In Professor do Geer’s opinion, Dr. Norin has proved that- the deepest Himalayan valleys are older than tho ice period, but that the local rise of tho crust of the earth forming the mighty mountain chain and the entire form development had gone on during the present period, or so-called quaternary period. Through minute levelling, Dr. Norin was able to show the Himalayas' continuous growth up to several hundred meters,, divided as if in. steps between well-marked cracks.

During the present expedition, the professor says, Norin has succeeded in showing this formation for long stretches and in following tho linos of the very shore of the large quaternary inland seas that during the ice period covered several of the present deserts in Central Asia, and especially that .of the great. Takla-Makan. This desert spreads its wide-flung edges on the north side of the Himalayas and its northerly parallel chain, Kwen Lun. On, its northern side, Takla-Makan is again bounded, by Tian Shan and its easterly , Kuraik Lagh. It is in this last mentioned mountain tract that Norin has made the. important discoveries here spoken of. This great quaternary sea, which during the ice period covered the entiro Takla-Makan mountain, inay be likened to a gigantic water pass. By means of bis levels, Norin has now begun just north of the highest part of the world . yet discovered called ‘ ‘ tho ceiling of the world," a careful reading of tho differently formed rises in the land that the earth’s crust .has undergone during the last period.