_Geology._--With the exception of a few small patches of schist,
supposed to be Cretaceous, the whole island, so far as is known, is
covered by deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age. The ancient
"schist formation," which occurs in Sumatra, Borneo, &c., does not
rise to the surface anywhere in Java itself, but it is visible in the
island of Karimon Java off the north coast. The Cretaceous schists
have yielded fossils only at Banjarnegara, where a limestone with
Orbitolina is interstratified with them. They are succeeded
unconformably by Eocene deposits, consisting of sandstones with
coal-seams and limestones containing Nummulites, Alveolina and
Orthophragmina; and these beds are as limited in extent as the
Cretaceous schists themselves. Sedimentary deposits of Upper Tertiary
age are widely spread, covering about 38% of the surface. They consist
of breccias, marls and limestones containing numerous fossils, and are
for the most part Miocene but probably include a part of the Pliocene
also. They were laid down beneath the sea, but have since been folded
and elevated to considerable heights. Fluviatile deposits of late
Pliocene age have been found in the east of Java, and it was in these
that the remarkable anthropoid ape or ape-like man, _Pithecanthropus
erectus_ of Dubois, was discovered. The Quaternary deposits lie
horizontally upon the upturned edges of the Tertiary beds. They are
partly marine and partly fluviatile, the marine deposits reaching to a
height of some 350 ft. above the sea and thus indicating a
considerable elevation of the island in recent times.
The volcanic rocks of Java are of great importance and cover about 28%
of the island. The eruptions began in the middle of the Tertiary
period, but did not attain their maximum until Quaternary times, and
many of the volcanoes are still active. Most of the cones seem to lie
along faults parallel to the axis of the island, or on short cross
fractures. The lavas and ashes are almost everywhere andesites and
basalts, with a little obsidian. Some of the volcanoes, however, have
erupted leucite rocks. Similar rocks, together with phonolite, occur
in the island of Bavian.[5]
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