,78 



IKIDIIOF NANSKN. 



M.-N. Kl. 



Fig. 132. Vogel Hook, the northern point ol Prince Charles Foreland, seen trom the north 



(July 27th, 1912). The difference between the steeper west side of the island, and the 



more sloping east side with a broad strandilat is noteworthy [from Nansen 1920]. 



XII. THE STRANDFLAT OF SPITSBERGEN. 



The etnerged strandfiat is a very conspicuous feature in the land- 

 scape along- the coasts of Spitsbergen. It is very different from the 

 Norwegian strandfiat as it forms more or less continuous low plains in 

 front of the often oversteepened mountain sides, and it is not split up 

 into numerous islands and skerries. 



Literature. 



A d o 1 f H o e 1 [1909, 1914] has subjected it to special investigations. 

 He says [19 14, pp. 25 ff.] that "along the whole of the Spitsbergen coast 

 which he had an opportunity of examining, frotii Ice Fjord to Wood Bay. 

 the coast, between the sea and the mountains, is surrounded by a border 

 of low land from which the mountains rise abruptly and partly vertically 

 forming a rather conspicuous precipice". 



"The boundary between the plain and the mountain is often covered 

 by quaternary marine terraces, or by a talus (scree). But it also often 

 appears very sharply marked, and at a certain distance one always gets 

 the impression of a well defined line of demarkation." 



"These coastal plains are missing only in the inner parts of the fjords. 

 c. g. in the inner part of Cross Bay. They are especially well developed 

 along straits, thus along Foreland Sound 10 to 20 kilometres wid;. they 

 attain a considerable width on both sides of this sound. Thev reach their 

 maximum development at prominent points, c. g. at the north-east corner 

 of Prince Charles Foreland, at Ouade Hook, at Cape Guissez, and Cape 

 Mitre." 



"Under otherwise equal conditions, thev are wider where tne rocks 

 are less resistant, c. g. Carboniferous limestones and schists of the Hecla 

 Hook system, and are narrower where more resistant rocks predominate." 



