30 



MATilOX EXPEDITIOX TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



As a result of the i)rev!iiliiio; winds, currents, and of the configura- 

 tion of the basin, certain parts of the pohir cap ice are characteris- 

 tically congested. These are known as the regions of paleocrystic 

 ice. In this respect the most famous district is north of Greenland 

 and Grant Land, while other sections are along the east coast of 

 Novaya Zemlya, around Franz Josef Land, and off the southeastern 

 coast of the Beaufort Sea. The term '' paleocrystic ice " Avas first 

 used by Nares in 1876 to describe the tumbled, chaotic mass of 

 blocks and domes of old sea ice, developed after many years of shock 

 and pressure. A well-known area of paleocrystic ice is the sector 

 on the northwest coast of Greenland, where the polar cap ice is 

 forced through the funnellike opening in Baffin Bay. 



Paleocrystic ice lying across the so-called American route to the 

 pole proved a great obstruction to the early northern explorers. 



^•v^1 





"•"<. 'fis 



A PALEOCRYSTIC ICE REGION 



Figure 1.5. — The horizontal fields of cap ice in certain regions undergo tremendous 

 shocks and pressures due to tlie prevailing winds, currents, and the conflguration 

 of the hasin. The resulting form is called paleocrystic ice. This photograph was 

 taken in April, 1002, north of Cape Helca. Grant Land, the northern extremity 

 of Ellesmere Land. (See fig. 11.) (l'hotograph( d by Hear Admiral U. K. Peary.") 



Sledge progress across such upheaved scarps is snaillike, full of 

 toil, and fraught Avith danger, both to dogs and men. After several 

 years of pressure ridging and hummocking Avith successive layers 

 of snoAv increasing the bulk, floebergs develop. These Avhen float- 

 ing, attain heights as great as 30 feet above the sea, and they often 

 show a striking resemblance to icebergs. SeA'eral Arctic explorers 

 haA^e mistaken floebergs for icebergs: even Peary, seeing them north 

 of Grant Land, thought he had evidence of undiscoA'ered glaciation 

 in that direction. It is an interesting question Avhether or not many 

 floebergs actually join the supply of icebergs drifting into the Xorth 

 Atlantic. Information on this subject is negligible because the 

 proper place to distinguish the one ice form from the other and to de- 

 termine their relative numbers is at the head of Baffin Bay. Avhere 

 fcAv or no obserA^ations liaA'e CA^er been taken. The i)resence of floe- 



