Geology of Mongolia: a Reconnaissance Report based on the Investigations of the Years 1922–23

Abstract

A GOBI, which according to Howorth is the Mongol word for the stony or sandy desert, is explained by the authors of this monograph as an open plain on the floor of a basin. The geology of the Gobis, in that sense, is rarely on first appearance attractive; but they often yield fossils of exceptional interest, because the remains of extinct land animals have been buried in the deposits on their floors. Prof. H. F. Osborn made the sound prediction that north central Asia would be found to have been an important centre in the evolution of the higher vertebrates, and an expedition on a grand scale was organised by Mr. Boy Andrews to collect the fossils which would be expected on this hypothesis. The expedition, as is well known, obtained a rich haul of fossil vertebrates—its most sensational discovery being the nests with the eggs of dinosaurs.

Geology of Mongolia: a Reconnaissance Report based on the Investigations of the Years 1922–23.

By Prof. Charles P. Berkey Frederick K. Morris. (Central Asiatic Expeditions: Natural History of Central Asia, Vol. 2.) Pp. xxxi + 475 + 44 plates + 6 maps. (New York: American Museum of Natural History; G. P. Putnam's Sons, Ltd., London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, Ltd., 1927.) 10 dollars.