Survey of Northeast Greenland. 407 
78° and 82°, the inland ice does not form icebergs, but spreads it- 
self beyond the sea and gradually loses itself in the fjord ice. The 
deep layer of snow contributes towards making the transition between 
the inland ice and sea ice so imperceptible, that on long stretches 
it is often impossible to know whether one finds oneself on glacier 
ice or on sea ice. Very large portions of this continuous glacier ice 
float in the sea and therefore partake of the rise and fall of the 
tide. Consequently no tidal cracks and tidal pressure ridges are 
formed on the border line between the floating glacier ice and the 
sea ice; on the other hand the tidal phenomena often occur far in 
on this special kind of inland ice, that is, on the border line between 
that part which rests on the bottom and that which floats. These 
tidal cracks and tidal pressure ridges, often quite impressive and 
grand (see Fig. 4, p. 10, and Fig. 7, p. 13) may, however, correspond 
with water depths of more than 100 metres and have nothing to do 
with the coast line"). No visible coast line exists in this place; the 
border line between land and sea has disappeared; the very suggestion 
of a coast line has become uncertain, and in case one wishes to use 
the term, it must be done with an explanatory addition to the effect 
1) that one imagines the inland ice to be non-existent, or 2) that 
one looks on the inland ice as forming part of the country. This 
latter consideration cannot be said to be without some logical 
foundation. Considering the unstable character of the inland ice, the 
former is, however, not only the more natural one, but the thus 
defined coast line is furthermore the one which is of greatest interest 
from a geological point of view. i 
It would in reality be of no small interest, if one could decide 
the approximate position of the coast line, in case the inland ice is 
taken to be non-existent, but a fairly reliable solution of this problem 
requires the knowledge of a series of circumstances concerning which 
we hardly know anything at all. In this respect we have, therefore, 
in the main to fall back upon an uncertain estimate by the map. 
Only as far as Germania Land is concerned, where we have several 
fixed points of support for the settling of the question as to the 
insularity of the country, is.there any occasion to discuss the matter. 
The west coast of Germania Land from Jøkelbugten to Dove 
Bugt, a stretch of 150 km, is blocked by the glacier ice from the two 
powerful ice streams, Kofoed-Hansens Bræ and Storstrømmen. We 
know that the eastern contour of Kofoed-Hansens Bræ indicates a 
real coast line, because northwest of the Anneksgen оп the margin 
') A more detailed description is to be found in this volume in chaps. I, II and 
IV of “Die glaciologischen Beobachtungen der Danmark-Ekspedition von J. P. Koch 
und À. WEGENER. 
