174 FRIDTJOF NANSFN. M.-N. Kl. 



iinu-|i (Iciiiulcil 1)\- siilj.'K-rial erosion, iiilciisif icil hy ili(- frost in a climate for 

 the most part severe, aii'l •Inriii;,'- iiiiMcr climatic periods by fluvial erosion 

 which rk'\clopcfl a r|raiiia<;c s\>l(i)) of hroa^l flat valleys, which, however, 

 have \)vv\] oMiicraldl 1)\- the sul)sei|uci)t j^lacial erosion anrl shore erosion. 



1 )urinj4- the ice Aj^'-es the lanrl has probably been much fjenufler] In- 

 glacial erosion, which, howe\'er, has not cut \-ery 'leep \alleys and fjfjrds 

 in this region of soft rocks. 



Another pr(icess which has been of importance for the surface forms 

 and the planing of the land in this r(,'gi(;n, is the flowing soil ("soli- 

 fluction") Icf. ( i. M(jlmsen, 1915], which J. (i. Andersson [1900] has studied 

 on J'ear Island. 



I)y the disintegration of the frost the soft rocks are in many places 

 transformed into an argilaceous mud which, when soaked with water by 

 the melting of snow and ice in the spring- and summer, becomes semifluid 

 and slowlv flows down the slo])es even though they be very g-entle. The 

 freezing of the water in tliis boggy soil anrl the melting- of it again, 

 greatlv helps this movement. Tn this mantier the moving soil has a 

 tendencv to flow rlown into the small valleys and depressions and to some 

 extent i)rotect them against the frost erosion, while the higher sloping 

 parts are more or less deprived of their coating of soil and their solid 

 rock is more exposed to the disintegration by frost. This process mav 

 have some effect towards planing the land surface, and may help to 

 obliterate the valleys [cf. Nansen, 1920 & 1921, Chap. TI]. The northern 

 plain is, however, to a very great extent covered by stones formed by 

 the disintegration of the sandstone, and the above process cannot have 

 been of so much importance in those regions. 



After its final formation the strandfiat has been covered by a local 

 glacier during the last glacial period of the island. This glacier has not. 

 however, eroded the surface of the strand flat to anv appreciable extent, 

 but on the surface of the rocks in some places, striæ still occur, radiating 

 from the central part of the island towards the coast, as was first dis- 

 covered by Nathorst [cf. J. G. Andersson, 1900, p. 438]. It is possible 

 that the A'ery shallow depressions now forming the many lakes, are due 

 to this glacial erosion. 



After the last glacial covering the bare rock-surface has been much 

 disintegrated by frost, but as there has been very little transport on this 

 flat plane the débris has to a great extent remained in siiit. 



It might l)e more difficult to decide the age of the now submerged 

 strandfiat of Bear Island — and between that island and Hope Island — 

 now standing at a level of about 30 to 40 metres below the sea-surface. 

 The probability seems to me to be that this part of the strandfiat has 

 been developed during the glacial periods. 



It is a striking fact that no traces of a postglacial elevation of the 

 land have been discovered on Bear Island, as has been mentioned bv 



