Hercynian Orogenic Cycle in the Eastern Asia

동아(東亞)에 있어서의 헤르시니아 운동(運動)

Orogenic cycle is closely related with sedimentary cycle, and a sedimentary cycle involves the birth, development and disappearance of a sedimentary basin. Paleontological studies have indicated that birth or disappearance of sedimentary basins of separated regions frequently coincided in time. In this paper, the writer presents his assumption on the East Asian analogy of the Hercynian orogenic cycle in accord to the above mentioned generalities. Previous studies, including mine have a corollary that Korea and Southern China, which had been uplifted by the Caledonian movement, changed into low-lying region with subsiding areas in the Givetian time. The writer, thus, thinks that the Hercynian orogenic cycle started in Givetian, and that the Mongolian geosyncline in China, the Gangweon Basin in Korea and the Honshu geosyncline in Japan disappeared in the Ladinian. The writer, therefore, thinks that the Ladinian marks the end of the Hercynian orogenic cycle, but this assumption will have to be rechecked in consideration with the Alpine orogenic cycle. The Late Namurian-Early Bashkirian time, the dividing period between the early and late Hercynian orogenic cycle, is thought to correspond the time of the Hongjeom Series deposition. The writer is also of the view that the Akiyoshi orogenic cycle(T. Kobayashi) corresponds the late Hercynian phase, and that the Abenian movements(M. Minato) corresponds to the range from the late Caledonian phase to the former part of late Hercynian phase.