J
D E V O N I A N OF
EAST A S I A
TAKASHI HAMADA
ABSTRACT
This paper summarizes recent progress in research on the
Devonian system in East Asia.
The effect of the Kwangsi movement, which is roughly corre-
lated with the European Caledonian movement, is widely recog-
nized. 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 recog-
nized 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 distri-
bution from north to south. Conodont-rich cherty rocks are asso-
ciated 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 Japa-
nese 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 sedi-
ments, associated with brachiopods.
(1967) Intl. Symposium of the Devonian system: Papers, Volume I
2010 by the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists
INTRODUCTION
Recent progress in research on the Middle Palaeozoic
palaeontology and stratigraphy in East Asia is remarkable,
and various instructive data have accumulated over the past
two decades. However, owing to the infrequent communi-
cation among the countries of this region, little has been
done to summarize this knowledge and to explain palaeo-
geography and tectonic development.
A great effort to synthesize the new stratigraphic data
in Chinese territory has been made by the staff of the
China Academy of Science, which has published an enor-
mous amount of information on stratigraphy and on several
branches of palaeontology. As to the countries of Indo-
china, French scientists have made distinguished contribu-
tions to the Middle Palaeozoic geology and coral palaeonto-
logy.
The stratigraphic and palaeontological reconnaissance
teams that Japan sent to Southeast Asia from 1962 to 1965
have brought back new knowledge on the Siluro-Devonian
geology in Thailand and Malaysia (Malaya), where they
received extensive government cooperation. Some of their
findings have been included in the first three volumes of
"Geology and Palaeontology of Southeast Asia".
 The main purpose of this paper is to introduce an outline
of such progress that will bring the Devonian palaeogeo-
graphy into focus. The region in the title covers the Japan-
ese Islands, Korea, a part of Inner Mongolia, the mainland
of China, Indochina, Thailand, Malaysia, and a part of
Indonesia.
The writer wishes to express his sincere thanks to Prof.
Emer. Dr. T. Kobayashi of the University of Tokyo for his
continuous guidance and encouragement. He is much in-
debted to Dr. A. J. Boucot and Dr. J. G. Johnson of the Cali-
fornia Institute of Technology for their kind guidance in
brachiopod palaeontology and palaeogeography. This work
LATE SIL
= LIMESTONE X CLASTICS
Fig. 1. Distribution of the Devonian System in Japan.
was done as a part of a project at Pasadena under the ex-
change visitor program No. P-I-394 for 1966-1967.
JAPAN
Devonian fossils were first discovered in 1933 by Noda in
the Kitakami district, northeast Japan. Since his discovery,
knowledge of the Devonian occurrences in the islands has
increased rapidly. However, these rocks are rather frag-
mentarily distributed in small belts along the major dis-
turbed zones of the islands (Hamada, 1961, 1963). There-
fore, the stratigraphy has not been well clarified except in
the Kitakami mountainland (Fig. 1).
ukuma
200km
v VOLCANICS LEPTOPHLOEUM FLORULE
STRATIGRAPHY
LOWER DEVONIAN
There is a remarkable change of lithology between the
Ludlovian Kawauchi and the overlying Takainari Series.
The former is predominantly limestone with subordinate
amounts of argillaceous beds, and the latter consists of sili-
ceous beds with tuffaceous strata. The age of the Takainari
Series is still uncertain as it is not fossiliferous except for
radiolarian remains, but it is considered as the transition
bed between Silurian and Devonian because it is overlain
by the fossiliferous Ono Series. Small limestone lenses
near the base of the Ono Series contain some favositids,
tryplasmids, and Thecostegites, and are considered to be of
Early Devonian age. It is noteworthy that neither encrinu-
rid trilobites nor halysitid corals are detected in these lime-
stones, though such fossils are characteristic of the Kaw-
auchi Series. The Ono Series is remarkable in being com-
posed of large quantities of keratophyric clastics; this
volcanic detritus amounts to about 73 % of the overall thick-
ness.
MIDDLE DEVONIAN
The overlying Nakazato Series is approximately 750
metres thick and is divisible into two parts. The lower half
is still abundant in volcanic clastics of a keratophyric na-
ture, and the lowest part is occupied by a thick andesitic
layer with many pebbles of "Schalstein" at the base. How-
ever, no significant stratigraphie break has been detected
between this and the underlying Ono Series.
Favositids, heliolitids and some stromatoporoids were
found near the base of the lower half, and a fossiliferous
horizon containing brachiopods, corals, tentaculitids and tri-
lobites was recognized in the lower part of the upper half.
Among these trilobites Dechenella (Dechenella) minima
Okubo and Scutellum (Thysanopeltella) paucispinosa
(Okubo) were identified, and they are presumed to be
Coblenzian-Givetian in age (Kobayashi, 1957).
The coralline limestone series named Fukuji, which is
exposed along the tectonically disturbed zone of Hida prov-
ince (see Figure 1), has been presumed to be of Silurian
age. However, it is now regarded as Early Devonian be-
cause of the absence of halysitid corals and the abundance
of favositids in the fauna (Hamada, 1961). Among the
favositids, squamulate forms are predominant. The Taka-
haragawa Series overlying the Fukuji Series in the same
province contains some trilobites as well as rich coral faunas.
From the presence of Crotalocephalus japonicus, it is con-
sidered as Coblenzian-Eifelian in age (Kobayashi & Igo,
1956).
In the outer zone of southwest Japan the thick clastic
sediments called the G stage of the Gion-yama Series,
4
which overlie the lower Ludlovian G coralline limestone
3
characterized by Schedohalysites kitakamiensis, probably
include the Lower and Middle Devonian. Though there are
no megafossils to indicate age, the lithology coincides re-
markably with that of the Ono and lower Nakazato Series
in the Kitakami mountainland, in its abundance of kerato-
phyric materials. Recently the uppermost part was separat-
ed from the main series as the "Ohira" Formation, on the
basis of the new occurrence of the Leptophloeum florule.
UPPER DEVONIAN
The Upper Devonian Tobigamori Series is represented by
a thick argillaceous sequence in the Kitakami district of
northeast Japan. The outcrops are separated for some
distance from that of the lower members, so that the strati-
graphic relationship between the Upper and the Middle
Devonian is uncertain. Brachiopod-rich horizons charac-
terized by several Cyrtospirifer species are known in the
middle part of the sequence, and they are associated with
drifts of Leptophloeum cf. rhombicum Dawson and Cyclo-
stigma sp. The hairy spined productoid, newly named
Nodella pexa by Tachibana, is also found in the series
(Tachibana, 1963). The entirely clastic Tobigamori Series
exceeds 2000 metres in thickness, and bears several horizons
of conglomerate which contains pebbles of some metamor-
phic rocks. This series is quite conformable with the over-
lying lowest Carboniferous Karaumedate Series at some
outcrops.
Recently the Leptophloeum florule has also been found in
the "Ohira" Formation in Shikoku, southwest Japan
(Hirata, 1966). Here it occurs in a tuffaceous shale bed in
the upper part of the G stage. This stage is also rich in
4
conglomeratic layers. The plants are fragmentary but
rather well preserved and accompanied by small Orbiculoi- TABLE I. Devonian stratigraphy of Japan.
dea (Fig. 2).
\
The Ainosawa Formation in the Abukuma district and Southwest Japan Northeast Japan
the Kiyomi Series in Hida province are thought to be Inner zone Outer zone Abukuma Kitakami
Upper Devonian. Hida Kyushu-Kii
Famennian "Ohira"
Kiyomi form. Ainosawa Tobigamori
series form. series
Frasnian
Givetian
Takahara- Nakazato
Eifelian gawa G4 stage series
series
Goblenzian Fukuji Ono series
series
Gedinnian Takainari
series
Ludlovian Kawauchi
G3 stage series

oped in the inner zone of southwest Japan (Fig. 1). Al-

most the entire Devonian in the outer zone is represented by
a thick clastic series with abundant acidic volcanic materials
and coarse sediments, though in the Upper Silurian (Lower
Ludlovian) coralline limestones predominate.
A sudden shift of the depositional site of limestone from
the outer to the inner zone at the beginning of Devonian
time should represent an important palaeogeographical re-
volution during the island history of the Chichibu geosyn-
cline.
From the palaeoclimatological point of view, it is inter-
esting that the Lower and Middle Devonian corals of Japan
show a distinctly periodical growth change suggesting sea-
sonal differentiation. According to the palaeomagnetic
measurement on a Middle Devonian volcanic rock in the
Fig. 2. Orbiculoideo sp. a n d Leptophloeum rhombicum Dawson from Gion-yama,
Shikoku.

Kitakami mountainland, the north pole is expected to be at

It is remarkable that the calcareous facies of the Japan- a point of 6224' North Latitude and 5804' East Longitude,
ese Devonian is stratigraphically restricted to the lower or near the present North Urals. (Minato & Fujiwara,
half of the system and geographically especially well devel- 1964).
KOREA AND NORTHEAST CHINA
The first report of a Devonian fossil occurrence in this
area was by Yabe and Sugiyama from North Korea in 1940.
Subsequently they published several reports on Siluro-Dev-
onian fossils from Manchuria, or northeast China. In des-
cribing the brachiopod fauna from the Lesser Khingan dis-
trict, Nonaka (1944) also made a conspicuous contribution
to the Devonian knowledge of this area.
In 1955 came the second discovery of Devonian fossils
from Korea, in South Korea (Yabe & Suzuki, 1955). After
World War II, knowledge of the Devonian stratigraphy and
palaeontology of northeast China was much advanced by
Chinese scientists, and the Upper Devonian occurrence in
the Greater Khingan district was added (Chang, 1958).
The present writer examined the brachiopod fauna from the
Lesser Khingan, which had been described by Nonaka, and
some of the results of this investigation are included in this
paper (Hamada, 1960,1967 in press).
Korea
Sporadic occurrences of Devonian coralline limestones are
found between the Permo-Carboniferous and the Middle
Ordovician at Ch'onsongni in Heian-Nando, and at Kosuri
in Chusei-Hokudo, in North and South Korea respectively.
These limestones contain several colonial rugose corals such
as Phacellophyllum, Disphyllum and Phillipsastrea. Their
geological age has been a matter of argument (Hamada,
1960); it is now tentatively placed as Givetian, following the
opinion of Yabe and Sugiyama. It is worth noting that a
species of the genus Disphyllum has been found at Erhtao-
kou to the north in northeast China.
Heilungkiang Province
In 1943 Yabe and Eguchi reported some corals, including
Pseudamplexus infundibulus (Yabe and Eguchi), from
Erhtaokou, west to Kirin in the former Manchuria. In add-
ing a new species of Spongophyllum, they stressed the Sil-
urian aspect of the fauna (1945). Recently, Hamada (1960)
noted the possibility of a Devonian age, based on several
features such as the geological range of Spongophyllum, the
absence of halysitid corals, and the presence of dendroid
favositids in the fauna. The stratigraphic tables for China
(1955) further support this possibility, on the basis of an
occurrence of Disphyllum sp. from a limestone above the
coralline bed. However, the revised stratigraphy revealed
in the upper part of the sequence an encrinurid similar to
Coronocephalus rex (Mu ed., 1964). The age of the Erhtao-
kou Formation should therefore range rather widely in
time, and more detailed palaeontology is needed before
coming to any conclusion.
The Devonian succession exposed at Heitai, Mishan-hsien,
northeast China, was first clarified by Yabe in 1940, and
its geological age was discussed by several Japanese
palaeontologists. Since 1950, Chinese scientists have made
extensive studies of the fauna and stratigraphy, working
mainly with the materials from Chenshuhoushan, 9 km.
northeast of Heitai. Mu (1955) described DevonoUastus
heitaiensis, and Yang (1956) reported 28 bryozoan species
in 20 genera. Some brachiopods were studied by Wang
(1956) and Hou (1959). The presence of Stringocephalus
sp. strongly suggests a Givetian age for the fauna. Yang
stressed that the Heitai bryozoa show no faunal connection
with those of the Devonian formations in South China, but
strong similarities to the Altai ones, and also to the North
American fauna to a certain extent. The Heitai Form-
ation, which is tuffaceous in the upper part, overlies the
metamorphic crystalline complex of unknown age with un-
doubted unconformity.
For the Lesser Khingan district, several reports on the
Devonian fossils were made by Japanese palaeontogists
between 1942 and 1946. Among the fossils some brachio-
pods and corals have been described, and the occurrences of
trilobites and tentaculitids have also been noted. As indi-
cated by the writer elsewhere (Hamada, 1960), the age of
the faunas had been presumed to be Early Devonian. Ac-
cording to a preliminary survey by the writer on the brach-
iopod fossils collected from Kinsui and Houlungmen, it is
interesting to see some Rhenish elements such as Bifida,
and the world-wide simply-ribbed Leptostrophia, in associa-
tion with the Australian Lower Devonian brachiopod Reef-
tonia. The age might be approximately Emsian.
Hou (1959) and Tang and Su (1966) revealed that there
are several fossiliferous horizons of different ages in the
district, assignable to the Coblenzian-Eifelian Houlungmen
Formation and the Givetian Kenlyho Formation.
 Fig. 3. Middle Devonian palaeogeography of East A s i a .
Inner Mongolia
Discovery of the Taminshan fauna in the Greater Khingan
by Wang and Ning (1956) provided evidence concerning
the palaeogeography of the Upper Devonian at the per-
iphery of the Mongolian geosyncline, because the succession
1. Terrestrial sediments; 2. Volcanics; 3. L a n d area.
includes Upper and Middle Devonian faunas, and the former
is characterized by a rich clymeniid assemblage. Subse-
quent studies showed that the sequence is better developed
there than had been realized, and that it includes possible
Silurian formations in the lower part as well. This was the
first report of the Upper Devonian clymeniid fauna in
China. Chang (1958) and Yao (1959) discussed the correla-
tion with the Hsikwangshan Stage in central and southern
China. According to Dubatolov, the rugose and tabulate
corals in the lower Taminshan have affinities with the
Siberian and Uralian faunas.
The enigmatic Palaeozoic sequence widely distributed
near the border between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia is
called the Khangai Series. Its geological significance was
discussed by Kobayashi (1948) and by Huang (1954). The
series is composed mainly of greywacke and slate, of thick-
ness exceeding 7000 metres. Palaeontological data are
poor, but Hou and Wang have identified several Middle
Devonian brachiopods such as Mucrospirifer cf. ales
(Khalfin), Sinatrypa aspera (Schlotheim), Atrypa des-
gamata (Sowerby), Stropheodonta, Acrospirifer, and
others, in the materials collected from various places in
Central Inner Mongolia (in Wang & Yu ed., 1964).
The Middle Palaeozoic rocks on the Sino-Korean massif
have long been poorly understood. Recent progress in the
faunal analyses, however, shows that during the Middle
Devonian there occurred rather wide marine transgression
over the massif (Fig. 3). Beneath the Devonian is a great
stratigraphie gap, the area lacking the Upper Ordovician
and a great part of the Silurian. The stratigraphie positions
of these Devonian formations are tentatively given in
Table II.
CENTRAL AND SOUTH CHINA
There have been many new discoveries of Devonian local-
ities by Chinese geologists since the late nineteen-forties.
As well as the widely distributed marine sediments there
are many occurrences of plant and fish remains in the
region.

TABLE II. Devonian stratigraphy of Korea and Northeast China.

Mongolian geosyncline Sino-Korean massif
Inner Mongolia
Central Greater Lesser Erhtaokou Mishan N. Korea S. Korea
form. Khingan Khingan
Upper
Famennian Taminshan
form.
Lower Tungkulan
Frasnian Taminshan group
form.
Kentuho Kenlyho Heitai K'yonsongni Kosuri
Givetian form. form. form. form. form.
Upper
Eifelian Unnamed Wunuerh Houlungmen
form. form. Upper
Coblenzian clastic Lukou Lower Erhtaokou
group Houlungmen
sediments series
Gedinnian Nichiuho
with form.
Lower
Silurian brachiop. Erhtaokou
series
Underlying Metam. Mashan Midi. Midi.
strata Ordov. Ordov. rocks group Ordov. Ordov.
 Fig. 4. Late Devonian palaeogeography of East Asia. 1. Terrestrial sediments; 2. Clymeniid locality; 3. Leptophloeum locality; 4. Volcanics; 5. Land area.

In the field of palaeontology, Sun's work on corals, Hou's STRATIGRAPHY

and Wang's on brachiopods, P'an's on fishes, and Sze's on
plants were especially valuable. Summarizing discussions
of the Devonian history in terms of palaeogeography and
tectonic development have been given by Huang, Liu, and
others during the last three decades.
LOWER DEVONIAN
It has long been a problem whether the lowest Devonian
formations exist extensively in China or not. Due to crustal
movements of the Caledonian equivalent, represented by the
 Kwangsi movement in Southeast China, the uppermost Sil-
urian and lowest Devonian formations have been lost in
most places on the Chinese mainland. Devonian strata
overlie the Silurian, Ordovician, Cambrian and even Pre-
cambrian rocks with parallel unconformity except in South-
east China, on the margin of the Cathaysian anticlinoria,
where the pre-Devonian strata were intensely folded and
metamorphosed before being overlain by the Devonian with
angular unconformity.
However, in eastern Yunnan, the supposed extension of
the geosyncline from the south, the Silurian Wanglungsze
Group passes into the Devonian Lunghuashan Formation,
yielding fish and plant remains, without any stratigraphie
interruption. According to Sun, the fish are identifiable as
Pterichthys sp. and Cephalaspis sp., and are thought to
represent an Early Devonian age (in Wang & Yii ed., 1964).
No marine fossils undoubtedly indicating Gedinnian or Sie-
genian ages have been identified in Central or South China.
Fish-bearing Lower Devonian formations are reported from
Kwangsi and Kwangtung.
Liu's palaeogeographic map (1955) shows several marine
fossil localities as Lower Devonian. However, most of the
faunas represent the lower Middle Devonian (for example,
most of the brachiopods from the Szupai Stage), and only
a part of the Nahkaoling Shale with Hysterolites sp. and
"Anastrophia" sp. is considered as possibly Coblenzian
(Wang & Yii ed., 1964).
MIDDLE DEVONIAN
The Middle Devonian in China is divided into two
"stages," the Yiikiang and Tungkangling Stages, roughly
corresponding with the Eifelian and the Givetian respective-
ly. The former is further subdivided into Yiikiang (s.str.),
below, and the Tiaomachien, above. The Yiikiang repre-
sents the initial stage of marine transgression in Central and
South China, and is composed of shallow water mudstones
and sandstones with intercalated beds of marl and limestone.
The beds are fossiliferous, corals and brachiopods being the
dominant fauna. Several forms of Calceola, Hadrophyllum,
Favosites, Thamnopora, Heliolites are common in the coral
faunas, Mucrospirifer increbescens Wang, Rostrospirifer
tonkinensis (Mansuy), and Dicoelostrophia punctata Wang
among the brachiopods. Couvinian is the possible age for
this substage.
The Tiaomachien substage is also fossiliferous with many
species of corals and brachiopods. The characteristic fossils
are Calceola sandalina (s. str.), Ceriophyllum and Leptos-
trophia maccarthyi. The occurrence of several Bothriolepis
species is also recorded. Hou and Xian (1964) have report-
ed Eoreticularia, Bornhardtina and Parabornhardtina from
the Nanpanjiang Limestone, which is overlain by the Both-
riolepis beds in eastern Yunan; they are of the opinion
that the brachiopod fauna represents the Early Givetian
and not Eifelian or Couvinian as formerly considered.
The Tungkangling Stage is correlated with Givetian and
represents the most completely marine condition of the
Chinese Devonian. The sediments are mostly carbonates.
The world-wide Stringocephaius fauna (Boucot, Johnson, &
Struve, 1966) and characteristic Temnophyllum-Hexagon-
aria fauna are recognized. A Conchidiella assemblage of
this age was recently detected in western Kueichow, demon-
strating the faunal connection between South China and
the southern Urals (Hou & Hsu, 1964).
UPPER DEVONIAN
There has been long argument among Chinese geologists
on the Upper Devonian correlation problem. Tien (1938)
was the first to divide the Upper Devonian into the Hsik-
wangshan and Shaitienchiao stages, which are now accepted
by most Chinese geologists. The former is characterized by
Yunnanella and Yunnanellina, the latter by Cyrtospirifer
and Hypothyridina, and the stages are correlated with the
Famennian and Frasnian respectively in Central and South
China.
In describing the rich clymeniid fauna from the Greater
Khingan district, Chang (1958) posed the question whether
a marine facies of Famennian age exists in Central and
South China or not. It is a fact that the Yunnanella-
Yunnanellina fauna is associated with the Manticoceras-
Cyrtospirifer fauna in some places, for example in the Itate
Formation of East Yunnan. No clymeniid was known in
Central and South China until the recent discovery of a
clymeniid limestone in Kueichow (in Wang & Yii ed.,
1964) (Loc.Z in Fig. 4). The fauna was obtained from the
top of the Yaoso Formation which has been correlated with TABLE III. Devonian Fishes in China.
the Famennian Hsikwangshan Stage. The underlying EUROPE CHINA Fishes
Wangchengpo Formation y i e l d s Cyrtospirifer chaoi Sinacanthus wuchangensis
(Grabau) and some corals. Thus Chang's question is partly Famennian Hsikwangshan P'an
resolved although there still remain problems of correlation Sinolepis maerocephala Liu
& P'an
with other sequences. Frasnian Shaitienchiao 8. wutungensis Liu & P'an
Beside these marine deposits, there are widely distributed Asterolepis sinensis P'an
Carpolithus sp.
terrestrial sediments in the area. They are poorly dated at Kiangyousteus yohi Liu
most places, but some Leptophloeum- and fish-bearing parts Givetian
Bothriolepis sinensis Chi
Tungkangling B. lochangensis P'an
have been considered as Famennian. When the writer sum- B. kwangtungensis P'an
marized the Leptophloeum occurrences in China in 1960,

|
there were only seven localities. However, fifteen localities Tiaoma-
are now recorded in Wang and Yii's synthetic Devonian chien
Report in 1964. They are listed as follows (C-Q), with the

Yukiang
Japanese occurrences (A,B), and the alphabetical symbbls Eifelian
are collated with those in Figure 4. Yukiang
A : Tobigamori, Kitakami, Northeast Japan, B : Yoko-
kura-yama, Shikoku, Southwest Japan, C : Lungtan,

Coblenzian |
Nanking district, Kiangsu, D : Near Nanching, South Emsian Szupai
Fukien, E : Hing-Mei depression, East Kwangtung, F : Siegen-
Takuling, Hua-hsien, Kwangtung, G : Shaokuan, Kwang- ian Asiacanthus kaoi P'an
tung, H : Pankushan, Anyiian-hsien, South Kiangsi, I : A. suni P'an
A. multituberculatus Liu
Tzeli-hsien, Northwest Hunan, J : Huangchiateng, Chang- Cephalaspis sp.
yang-hsien, Southwest Hupeh, K : Mouyiikou, Tienshui- Gedinnian Lunghuashan Pterichthys sp.
hsien, Kansu, L : Ninghsia, Chungning-hsien, Kansu, M :
North of Chilienshan, West Kansu, N : Shihtoluokai,
Northwest Sinkiang, O : Santaichen, Fuyuan-hsien, Sink- logical purposes, as the number of known localities increas-
iang, P : Kuche, Sinkiang, Q : Kantien, South Sinkiang. es. The reported occurrences of Devonian fishes are sum-
It is noteworthy that the marine horizon with Yunnanella, marized in Table III.
Tenticospirifer and Cyrtospirifer is developed above the
plant bed at three localities, F, J and K. SOUTHEAST ASIA
At the beginning of Devonian time, terrestrial sediments The Devonian System in Southeast Asia has been poorly
were widely deposited as a result of the Caledonian crustal known as a whole. Some French geologists have made
movement on the Chinese heterogen. Consequently, no def- great contributions to the geology and palaeontology, es-
inite lowest Devonian marine fauna is detected except in the pecially in Indochina, during the last three decades since
Yunnan geosyncline to the west. As the marine transgress- Mansuy's extensive researches. More recently, Fontaine
ion proceeded over the continent, limestone became domin- (1961) worked on the Palaeozoic coelenterates, and Saurin
ant in the sequence, with its maximum phase in the Give- (1958) summarized the Devonian System of Indochina. The
tian. Near the close of the Devonian terrestrial materials biostratigraphy is still vague for much of the area (Fig. 5).
again became dominant. According to this development, A very similar situation is met in Thailand and Malaysia
the role of fish remains as well as the Leptophloeum florule (Kobayashi, 1964). Only a few possible Devonian fossil
and other plants becomes more important for geoehrono- localities were known before 1962. The Japanese reeon-
naissance teams on stratigraphy and palaeontology have
made an extensive survey of the region. As a result, there
has been remarkable progress in knowledge of the Middle
Palaeozoic, although the most of the palaeontological mat-
erial is still under examination, and the biostratigraphy is
quite inadequately understood. The recent discoveries of
Devonian conodonts and brachiopods in Malaysia (Alex-
ander and Muller, 1963; Gobbett, 1966) much accelerated
the progress (Fig. 6).
The Devonian System in the Philippines and Indonesian
islands is very little known. One Heliolites locality has been
reported from the Telen district of Borneo.
STRATIGRAPHY
LOWER DEVONIAN

The Lower Devonian is so far entirely unknown in Thai-

land and Malaysia. In the area of the Annamitic Cordil-
leras, there is said to exist a passage bed between Silurian
and Devonian. which bears Spirifer cf. metuens and Stro-
pheodonta schuchertanum (Saurin, 1958).
MIDDLE DEVONIAN

According to Saurin, Emsian and Eifelian are the trans-

gressive stages for the area, especially in its northern half.
There are rather widely distributed limestones with Calceola,
"Chonetes", and "Favosites" species. A Givetian horizon
with Stringocephalus is also widely distributed in Indochina,
and was recently reported to occur in the Kinta Valley of
Malaya (Gobbett, 1966) (Loc. 12 in Figure 6).
The "Tentaculites" bed found in Thailand is dated as
Emsio-Couvinian because of the associated trilobite Plagio-
laria (Kobayashi and Hamada, 1966). It is noteworthy
that there are some fragmentary monograptids in the
same bed. As recently discussed elsewhere by Kobayashi
and Hamada, the "Tentaculites"-bearing horizons in South-
east Asia are scattered over a wide stratigraphic range from
Upper Ordovician to Middle Devonian. The Nowakia-
Striatostyliolina bed in Kroh, Malaya, yields various blind
trilobites and a small plectodontid brachiopod, and is pre-
sumed to represent a quiet water, offshore facies (Hamada,
1967 MS). In contrast to the prevalent distribution of cor-
alline limestones of Middle Devonian age, this more tranquil
facies is limited to a narrow zone.
UPPER DEVONIAN
The Upper Devonian in Indochina is represented by
brachiopod-bearing calcareous sediments, though the Fam-
ennian is not recognizable in North Vietnam (zone I in
Figure 5), where there is a discordance between Devonian
strata and the Lower Carboniferous. The Frasnian in the
Annamitic Cordilleras (zone II) is rich in ambocoeliid
brachiopods (Saurin, 1958).
The Kanchanaburi Series in Thailand and the Singa
Formation in Malaya are composed mainly of thick clastic
sediments with few fossils. Stratigraphically they lie be-
tween the calcareous Siluro-Ordovician and the Permo-
Carboniferous limestone series. The poorly known clastic
succession contains some red beds or variegated mudstone
layers, and conodont-bearing cherts near the base. A pel-
ecypod, probably Posidonia beechi, small brachiopods, and
ostracods are fairly common in these red beds. In North-
west Malaya they are supposed to be of Late Devonian or
earliest Carboniferous age on the basis of an occurrence of
the proetoid trilobite Cyrtosymbole (Waribole) perlisense
(Kobayashi & Hamada, 1966). Among the brachiopods,
small ambocoeliids and chonetids are also fairly abundant
in the red beds (Hamada, 1967 MS). There might be some
slight differences in age among the localities of such am-
bocoeliid communities in Indochina, Thailand and Malaya,
but the red beds represent a characteristic unit in the
Palaeozoic succession of Southeast Asia. It should be noted
that some Upper Devonian conodonts were reported from
limestone near the Stringocephalus limestone in the Kinta
Valley of Malaya (Alexander & Miiller, 1963).
In summarizing the Devonian distribution and fauna in
Indochina, Saurin utilized geographical divisions as in Figure
Fig. 6. Silurian a n d Devonian distribution in T h a i l a n d a n d M a l a y s i a ( M a l a y a )
List of localities: 1. South of Fang, North Thailand (S : graptolites) 2 Ban N a
Kho, northeast of C h i e n g k a n , North Thailand. 3. Si Sawat, near K a n c h a n a b u r i ,
Central Thailand. 4. B a n N a , north of T h u n g s o n g , South T h a i l a n d (graptolites)
5. West of Phatthalung, South Thailand. 6. Ko Y o a n d B a n H u a K h a o near
Songkhla, South Thailand. 7. Ko Yao, west of Satun, South Thailand. 8. Pulau
L a n g g o n , L a n g k a w i islands, Northwest M a l a y a (S : graptolites). 9 South of
K a n g a r , Perlis, Northwest M a l a y a . 10. South of Alor Star, Northwest M a l a y a 11
Kroh, Upper Perak, Northwest M a l a y a . 12. Kinta Valley, Chemor, north of Ipoh
(conodonts); Kampar, south of Ipoh (brachiopods). 13. Setapak, K u a l a Lumpur
(corals a n d brachiopods). 14. 20 miles east of Setapak (graptolites).
5. Division I or North Vietnam zone is characterized by
fossiliferous marine deposits ranging from Emsian to Frasn-
ian. In the axial part of division II, the Annamitic Cordil-
leras, there is supposed to exist transitional beds between
the Silurian and the Devonian, as well as Devonian and Din-
antian. According to Saurin, divisions III and IV, or Upper
Laos and South Indochina respectively, are areas of geo-
synclinal character, with unfossiliferous shales, sandstones
and radiolarian cherts dominant. Some coralline limestones
are intercalated among them.
The southern extension of division III is recognized in
northern Thailand. There coralline limestones and asso-
ciated keratophyric tuff beds are exposed. Though there
exists a rather wide gap between this locality and the
Stringocephaius-bearing coralline limestone in Malaya, it is
possible that these calcareous sediments might have been
deposited in a single trough.
Farther to the west, there is the clastic belt characterized
by the "Tentaculites" beds of Silurian and Devonian age
and also by the red beds with Posiefcmia-ambocoeliid-chone-
tid communities of Devono-Carboniferous age. In this belt
conodont-rich cherts are also recognizable in some places.
Incidentally, the Lower Silurian graptolite-bearing shales
are well developed in this belt.
CONCLUSIONS
From the geotectonic point of view, East Asia is com-
posed of the Chinese heterogen and the surrounding geo-
synclines: the Mongolian geosyncline to the north, the
Chichibu geosyncline to the east, and the Malaysian and
Yunnan geosynclines to the southwest. The Devonian his-
tory in the region was much affected by these tectonic units.
On the heterogen there were developed extensive terrestrial
deposits in several basins owing to the scattered positive
quasi-cratons which formed landmasses and supplied the
clastic materials. At the end of the period, a characteristic
Leptophloeum florule was extensively spread on the lands.
The equivalent florules found in the Japanese Islands are in
marine beds with brachiopods; they might represent drifts
from the lands beyond the Chichibu geosyncline.
It is interesting that almost the same relationships be-
tween tectonic divisions, geological development, and dis-
tribution of Leptophloeum, florules are recognized in the
Devonian history of Eastern Australia.
The Devonian System on the southern periphery of the
Mongolian geosyncline is poorly known compared with that
of Central and South China. However, it is evident that
a faunal connection existed between the Mongolian and
Kazakhstan-Altai regions. The Sino-Korean massif, which
is the largest and most northerly massif of the Chinese
heterogen, caused an isolation of the central and southern
Devonian faunas from the Mongolian, except in Givetian
time when the world-wide elements prevailed at the peri-
phery of the massif as well as in the surrounding geosyn-
clinal regions.
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TAKASHI HAMADA,
Institute of Earth Science, University of Tokyo, Japan.