Abstract
AS the report on the geological observations made during the recent Polar expedition of the Fram, recently read before the Royal Geographical Society by Mr. P. Schel, of which we have received a separate copy, is only a preliminary one, and the geological terms employed require some revision to make them intelligible to an English reader, a brief notice may suffice, though evidently the results will be very valuable. Under Captain Sverdrup's leadership, Ellesmere Land was crossed, part of its southern and its western coast was traced, with the corresponding side of Grinnell Land, and journeys were made round Axel Heiberg and Ringnes Islands. The collections obtained, which were often considerable, show that the region explored, with the newly discovered islands, consists of formations which were known to occur on the two sides of Smith Sound and on the long chain of islands extending on or near the seventy-fifth parallel from North Devon to Prince Patrick Island, viz. a foundation of crystalline Archæan rocks, largely granitoid, followed by sedi-mentaries the oldest of which are of Cambrian age, the part immediately following the Archæan being occasionally, as might be expected, an arkose. In some places representatives of the Ordovician and Silurian occur, and, as in the other islands, Devonian and Carboniferous, including the representative limestone, are extensively developed. Mesozoic formations are represented, but apparently on no great scale, and large masses of sandstone, with lignites and shales, are identified by their plant fossils as Tertiary (Miocene or perhaps rather earlier), as in Greenland. In parts of Ellesmere Land and Heiberg Island are various eruptive rocks, porphyrites and diabases, cutting the Archæan and the older sedimentaries. Basalts and dolerites occur in Grinnell Land intrusive in Mesozoic strata, and surface lavas and somewhat similar rocks overlie Carboniferous rocks in Heiberg Island. They are older than the Tertiary shale mentioned above. The region has occasionally been much faulted, and locally crushed up against a “horst “of Archæan rock. It has also been affected by earth movements of late date, indicated by raised beaches and marine terraces, which are at various elevations up to nearly 600 feet, and so prove that the land has risen. There are no large masses of inland ice or signs of glaciers having formerly been on a much more extensive scale than at present. This is probably due, at any rate partly, to a rather small precipitation.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Arctic Geology . Nature 68, 105 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068105a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068105a0