Towards the close of the Palaeozoic era France had become a part of a great continent; in the north the Coal Measures of the Boulonnais and the Nord were laid down in direct connection with those of Belgium and England, while in the Central Plateau the Coal Measures were deposited in isolated and scattered basins.
The Coal Measures become narrower in the south, until, owing to the eastward projection of the highlands, the Lower Palaeozoic rocks reach the coast.
Kitson's work in Tasmania shows that there also the glacial beds may be correlated with the lower or Greta Coal Measures of New South Wales.
The coal is here confined to the lower division of the system; the Upper Carboniferous (corresponding with the English Coal-Measures) is exclusively marine, consisting chiefly of Fusulina limestone.
This swelling includes the Donets coal-measures and the middle granitic ridges which give rise to the rapids of the Dnieper.
