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Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Science ((EESS))

Around 1200 BC in one of the earliest written records in China, Tu Yu wrote in the Book of Poetry. ‘Highlands become valleys and deep valleys become mountains.’ The Book of Mountains and Seas of the 3rd century BC deals with minerals and geological processes. The knowledge of metallurgy in China dates back to the prehistoric period.

It has been reported that during the Han Dynasty, in the 3rd century AD natural gas was used for evaporating brine. Charcoal was used around 5000 BC. Petroleum and naphtha were used in the 6th century as lubricants and their smoke was used to make ink. The Chinese petroleum industry is among the oldest in the world. In the 12th century, a gas well nearly 1000 m deep was drilled in Sichuan Province.

The first concepts of geologic time and uniformitarianism developed between the 2nd and 6th centuries AD. During the Tang Dynasty (7th century AD), paleontology had its beginnings with the work of Yen Cheng-Ching, who associated fossils with sedimentary strata...

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Authors
  1. P. P. Fan
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© 1997 Chapman & Hall

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Fan, P.P. (1997). China. In: Encyclopedia of European and Asian Regional Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4495-X_20

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-74040-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4495-3

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