THE SCOTIA ARC 215 



"(e) No connexion can be shown to exist between the widely remote volcanic indica- 

 tions of Burdzvood bank, the volcanic arc of the South Sandivicli islands, and the 

 Bransfield volcauos (Bridgman, Deception, and others). The resemblance between the 

 South Sandwich Islands and the volcanos of the lesser Antilles has often been remarked 

 upon. 



"Existing observations scarcely permit us to carry comparisons further. It must not 

 be overlooked that Staten Island and Cape Horn do not present a completely concordant 

 strike, and that Mount Oreille may mark perhaps the beginning of a new volcanic arc 

 resembling the South Sandwich Islands more closely than Burdwood bank. Arctowski 

 marks - 4040 meters a little to the south of Staten Island. The connexion of the other 

 groups, such as South Georgia, the South Orkneys and the South Shetland islands, must 

 remain an open question". 



Suess also states that most modern investigators accept the hypothesis that the Andes 

 are seen again in Graham Land. 



Since Suess discussed the question, a considerable amount of geological work has been 

 carried out in these regions, as a result of which Gregory, in his presidential address to 

 the Geological Society in 1929,^ strongly contested the theory of an arc along the line 

 generally indicated. His objections were based mainly on various observations and 

 collections made in South Georgia, by Ferguson in 1911-12'", and Douglas during the 

 visit of the 'Quest' in 1922.^ Gregory also supported the conclusions arrived at by 

 Kiihn in 1920,* who maintained that the supposed extension of the Andes through 

 South Georgia was supported neither by the geology of the island nor by the form of the 

 adjacent sea floor. The geological evidence in 1920 may have been sufficient to warrant 

 this statement about South Georgia, but at that time there were not, in my opinion, 

 sufficient oceanic soundings in this area from which any conclusions could be drawn as 

 to the form of the sea bottom round the island. As the result of all the evidence available 

 in 1929, Gregory considered that South Georgia appeared to be "a fragment of an 

 ancient South Atlantic land, and the south-western corner of the Flabellitesland of 

 Schwartz". In coming to this conclusion, Gregory ignored the work of Heim in 1911^ 

 and Wordie in 1914,'' who both maintained that Ferguson's interpretation of South 

 Georgia was inadmissible. 



Since then, however, HoltedahF has made a considerable number of observations in 

 South Georgia, the South Shetlands and some of the outlying rocks and islands, and 



' Gregory, The Geological History of the Atlantic Ocean, Quail. Joiini. Geol. Soc. London, Lxxxv, 

 pp. cix-cxi (1929). 



2 Ferguson, Tram. Roy. Soc. Edin., l, pp. 797-816 (1915). 



^ Geol. Coll., Voyage of the 'Quest', pp. 51-54 (British Museum), 1930. See also Nature, cxxvi, p. 837. 



* Kiihn, Der sogenannte " Siidantillen-Bogen" und seine Beziehungen, Zeit. Ges. Erdk. Berlin, pp. 249- 

 269, especially pp. 255, 261 (1920). 



5 Heim, Zeit. Ges. Erdk. Berlin, No. 6, pp. 451-6 (1912). 



" Wordie, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., liii, pp. 17-27 (1925). 



' Holtedahl, On the Geology and Physiography of some Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands, Norweg. 

 Antarct. Expeds., 1927-8 and 1928-9, No. 3, Oslo (1929). 



