THE FORMATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF QUATERNARY MARINE PELITIC SEDIMENTS IN ZHEJIANG

Through geological surveys, it has been realized that the coastal plain in eastern Zhejiang was formed under the action of sea waters and that there are marked differences between the Quaternary marine pelitic sediments and those formed in other environments in aspects of geomorphology, stratigraphic structure and sedimentary facies sequence as well as grain size distribution, constituent minerals, chemical composition and biotic genera and species con- tained. The method by use of the diagram of P₂O₅ versus （CaO+FeO+Na₂0 +MgO） and the discriminant analysis by use of GaO, FeO, Na₂0 and MgO as indices has proved effective in discriminating among marine facies and tran- sitional facies, and are simpler and more practicable as well. The survival of organisms call for certain environmental conditions, but the deposition of the remains after their death is controlled by depositional conditions and mech- anisms. The application of the methods of "simultaneous correlation" and de- termination of the types of sporo-pollen is of significance in distinguishing between land and sea and inferring intertidal or subtidal environments.