1921. No. 1 1. 



THE STRAXDFLAT AND ISOSTASY. 



33 



Fig. 14. Picture of the future, showing how the ice-foot' in Fig. 13 

 ma}- erode a shore-ledge in the length of time. 



beach may be so firmly frozen in between the stones, and boulders, and 

 rocks, that it cannot be broken loose by the waves, but is gradually worn 

 away or melted in situ. I have seen ice remaining during the summer in 

 this manner between the stones on the sea bottom along submerged beaches. 



In a different manner a transport of débris may be effected. The 

 stones loosened by the disintegration of frost from the cliff and the steep 

 mountain side, will fall down on the sloping snow surface of the 'ice foot' 

 and thumble, or gradually glide, down this slope to the shore where they 

 may reach the surface of the sea ice and be finally carried away by this ice. 

 Or they are. deposited in or near the water, and when they have been suf- 

 ficiently disintegrated by frost and waves, are finally washed away. In 

 this manner a terrace of loose stones and débris may often be formed along 

 the shore outside the bench cut in solid rock. 



The accumulations of ice and sno\v along the shore will year by year 

 eat themselves landwards, making the shore-bench broader, and forming 

 a higher and higher cliff, or mountain wall, of crumbling rocks inside. 

 Thus the typical shore of Arctic lands is developed. 



This may even occur along steep coasts where the mountain side falls 

 abruptly into the sea, as is demonstrated by Figs. 13 and 14. Figs. 13 

 illustrates a small *ice foot' formed above the upper sea-tang (fucus) limit 

 and above the average high-tide level at Holstensborg in Greenland 

 [K. J. V. Steenstrup, 1907]. 



Fig. 14 illustrates how a shore-bench might be formed in the length of 

 time by the frost erosion of the accumulations of ice and snow at this level. 

 The rate of the erosion will greatly depend on the resistance of the rock 

 to the disintegrating effect of the frost and ice. In places where the reck 

 is relatively less resistant, small circiues may be formed. 



Vid.-Selsk. Skrifter. I. M.-N. Kl. 1921. No. 11. 3 



