808 Geology of Spitzbergen, 



(sometimes resembles granite ; in other parts they are stratified, 

 but in highly inclined beds. They begin at the southern point 

 in 76 J° of latitude. Here they consist of mica- slates and 

 quartz-rock in vertical beds, running NE., SW, These rocks 

 form the hilly country surrounding Horn Sound and Bell 

 Sound, and they continue still more to the north. Horn 

 Sound owes its name to a peaked mountain composed of the 

 same rocks. This mountain, the highest of those measured 

 by Captain Scoresby in 1815, has, according to him, an eleva- 

 tion of 4395 English feet. * 



Stratified deposits of a more recent date also occur in these 

 parts, and they would appear, as in southern Sweden, to rest 

 unconformably on the old crystalline rocks. Captain Scoresby 

 mentions a curious example of this. We see, says he, at 

 the extremity of King''s Bay, a very regular and magnificent 

 work of nature. It consists of three rocky pillars of a regular 

 form known by the name of the Three Crozcns. They rest 

 on the ridge of other hills. Each one has, as its base, a table or 

 horizontal bed of rock ; on this we find another of the same 

 form and height, but of a smaller area. This continues to 

 a third and fourth bed, and so on, each of the succeeding 

 strata being smaller than the one on which it rests, until the 

 whole forms a pyramid of steps, as regular as if it had been 

 constructed by art. 



Captain Scoresby mentions the occurrence of fine marble in 

 King's Bay, and the name of Limestone Bay, given to one of 

 the indentations of the coast, leads one to presume that cal- 

 careous beds are found there. Limestones, sandstones, and 

 even gypsum have been observed at the base of the mountains, 

 in the bays or fiords which intersect the coast, and in the 

 islands which border it. Carboniferous deposits of indifferent 

 quality have been found there, extending to the 79th degree of 

 latitude, and of very easy access. In 182J5, 60 tons of coal were 

 exported from Ice Sound, situated in the 78th degree. The 

 name of Cannel-coal has been given to this combustible ; and 



* In our account of the primitive rocks collected in Spitzbergen by Cap- 

 tain Parry, the following are enumerated, viz. granite, gneiss, mica-slate, 

 hornblende-rock, limestone, dolomite marble, quartz-rock, chlorite-slate, 

 and clay-slate. The transition rocks met with were chiefly clay-slate, 

 quartz-rock, and limestone.— ^t^if. 



