350 CLIMATIC CONDITIONS OF THE GLACIAL EPOCH. 



only — in the Kara Valley, namely — does he appear to have noticed glacial 

 stria3. On the whole he supposes that the whole range of the Thian-Schan 

 may have been glaciated to about the same extent that the Alps are at the 

 present time. Moushketoff, another Russian explorer of Central Asia, how- 

 ever, questions the accuracy of tlie observations of Sewerzoflf, declaring that 

 up to this time there is no foundation for the belief of a Glacial epoch in the 

 Thian-Schan* 



In regard to the former glaciation of the Altai Mountains, the information 

 is somewhat meagre ; but, so far as it goes, it supports the view that no 

 Glacial epoch has manifested itself in that chain. 



Gebler states that in the Altai, the river Katoun, which descends from the 

 highest point of the range, passes through moraines which indicate that 

 there has been a decided recession of the small glacier which exists on that 

 mountain.! B. von Cotta, on the other hand, remarks as follows: "Here- 

 with may be associated the i'act of the entire absence of any trace of a former 

 greater extension of the glaciers, and of an ice age corresponding to that of 

 Western Europe. General von Ilelmersen himself could discover no traces 

 of erratic blocks, or of striated or rounded surfaces, neither could I find the 

 slightest indication of anything of the kind, although I searched for such 

 with care on the foot-hills as well as in the deep gorges of the Altai. This 

 is the more remax-kable, inasmuch as the range rises to an elevation of from 

 7,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea-level, and in the southeastern portion 

 there exist now some small glaciers." J 



Of the ranges lying to the northeast of the Altai we know but little, and 

 of tlieir former glaciation nothing. In regard to Northern China, however, 

 we have the positive statement of an eminently well qualified geologist, 

 Richthofen, tliat there are no tnices of a former glacial covering [es hier an 

 Spuren ehemaliger Gletscherbedeckung fehlt] in that country. § 



From what has already been said in regard to the glaciation of the North 

 Polar regions and especially of Northern Russia, it would seem not at all to 

 be expected that the Ural Mountains should furnish evidence of the passage 

 of an ice sheet over any part of their flanks or summits proceeding from the 



* See HssicTM HmiepaTopcKaro PyccKaro reorpaiimiocitaro OSmecTBa, Tom XII. 1876, p. 222 and XIII. 

 1877, p. 42. 



t Gebler, Ueliersicht der Katunisoheu Geljirge, quoted in Keclus, Nouvelle Geograpliie Universelle, Tome 

 VI. p. 637. 



J B. von Cotta, Der Altai, .sein geologiseher Bau iind seine Ei-zlagerstatten, Leipzig, 1S71, p. 65. 



§ China, Band I. p. 76. 



