86 HOBBS— CHARACTERISTICS OF THE [April 22, 



and descent. Inasmuch as these sloping forms are characteristic 

 of the ice front in the warmer zones, and further correspond to 

 that generally characteristic of mountain glaciers in lower latitudes, 

 it seems likely that its occurrence in Greenland is limited to districts 

 where surface ablation plays a larger role. 



In northeast Greenland (lat. 77°-82°) according to the Danes, 

 " the frontier of the inland ice is in some places quite steep, in 

 other places you might have mounted the inland ice without know- 

 ing it." 



Features Within the Marginal Zone. — The larger terraces upon 

 the ice slope, Nansen has ascribed to peculiarities of the rock floor 

 on which the ice rests. Where the slopes become still more accele- 

 rated toward the margin of the ice, deep crevasses appear upon 

 these steps running parallel to their extension, and hence parallel to 

 the margins of the ice. Nansen found, however, that such crevasses 

 were restricted to the outer seven or eight miles on the eastern 

 side of his section, and to the outer twenty-five miles on its western 

 margin. Peary in his reconnoissance across the ice border in lati- 

 tude 69^°, saw such crevasses while they were opening and the 

 surface snow was sinking into the cleft thus formed. The visible 

 opening of the cleft was accompanied by peculiar muffled reports 

 which rumbled away beneath the crust in every direction.^* Of the 

 terraced slope and its fading into the plateau above he says : 



The surface of the " ice-blink " near the margin is a succession of 

 rounded hummocks, steepest and highest on their landward sides, which are 

 sometimes precipitous. Farther in these hummocks merge into long, flat 

 swells, which in turn decrease in height towards the interior, until at last 

 a flat gently rising plain is revealed w^hich doubtless becomes ultimately level.^'' 



In sketching the general form of the Greenland continental 

 glacier, it has been stated that the highest portion of the shield 

 lies to the eastward of the medial line of the continent. This is 

 shown by Nansen's section, and is emphasized by Peary, who says : 



That the crest of the Greenland continental ice divide is east of the 

 country's median line there can be no doubt.^" 



^Joiir. Am. Geogr. Soc, Vol. 19, 1887, p. 277. 

 ^ Geogr. Jour., Vol. 11, 1898, pp. 217, 218. 

 ^'^ Geogr. Jour., I. c, p. 232. 



