PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 121 



the end of the descending glacier and re-consoHdate at the 

 base of the mountain, forming a secondary glacier. 



Before quitting the subject of ice and ice action, I must 

 refer to a supremely interesting instance of palaeozoic 

 glaciation to which my attention was called by Mr A. 

 Strahan, of the Geological Survey, and which it was my 

 good fortune to visit in company with him. Near Biggan- 

 jargga, at the head of the Varanger Fjord, the formation 

 consists of sandstone altered into a quartzite. This quart- 

 zite rests unconformably on an eroded surface of Gneiss, 

 and is regularly bedded. The surface of one of the beds 

 of quartzite is very clearly scored with glacial strice. The 

 grooves, which are very numerous and distinct, run in 

 various directions, the three principal sets having the 

 following directions, viz : — N. 30'^ W. ; W. 20° N. ; and 

 N. 10° W. There was no doubt whatever about them. 

 They were not mere casual scratches such as might be 

 made by rocks tumbling upon and slipping over the 

 surface, but perfectly well defined and unmistakable 

 glacial strice, which could be traced up to and under the 

 drift which rested upon the striated rock. Immediately 

 upon this striated surface reposed a mass of consolidated 

 glacial drift with embedded boulders, the included frag- 

 ments ranging from sand up to two feet in diameter, the 

 larger being for the most part of granitic character, the 

 smaller of shale and other materials. The bed of con- 

 glomerate has a maximum visible thickness of about 

 9 feet, and a lateral extent of about 60 to 70 yards. How 

 far it extends inland it is impossible to tell. The mass 

 thins out northerly in about four yards from its thickest 

 part, and against it the quartzite is unconformably bedded, 

 and is continued in regular sequence over it for a con- 

 siderable thickness. Just at the junction of the upper 

 quartzites with the mass of drift, the rock consists of an 

 intermixture of the drift and sandstone, or, to express it 



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