182 IKlbl JOK NANSKN. M.-N. Kl. 



pcrfecth' even, ;iiiil 1I sliows 110 iii'Iications of any drainage system, which 

 iinisl l)e tlic l\|)ical feature of a j>encijlaiii. There- may be a good many 

 shallow lakes on lliis surface, drainiuj^' tlirouj^li more or less acciflental 

 ch.-mnels of pos1,t;lacial ori^ni), hut there are no inrlications of older valleys 

 on tlie flat i)lanes. 



P) e r t i 1 lio_i;honi has not studied the strandfiat of Spitsbergen, 

 hut like lloel he points out [1914, P- 294] tliat shfjre-chff.^ are charac- 

 teristic of tlie Spitsbergen fjords, and are well developed even in places 

 where the wave action can <jnly ha\e been quite insignificant. 



lie maintains that the surf anrl the ice flrift are essential for the 

 transport of the waste, and arc therefore necessary for the formation of 

 a cliff-shore, but their direct power of erosion may be of minor im- 

 portance. The destruction of the rocks by the frost must be much more 

 effective. The fact that accumulations of snow ("snow-foot") frequently 

 remain on the beach at the base of the small cliffs during a great part 

 of the summer without being washed away by the breakers, also dis- 

 proves the direct importance of the waves for the development of the cliff. 



He thinks that by keeping the cliffs always wet, the freezing sea- 

 water must have much disintegrating power, especially as even open 

 crevices are kept full of water. The sea-w^ater will furthermore thaw the 

 frozen rock, and by alternate high- and low-tide a regular "regelation" 

 may thus be produced. 



Where the coast is relatively much exposed, and the surf can assist 

 the frost in breaking loose the material and carrying it quickly away, a 

 considerable abrasion may be produced, and he assumes that the sub- 

 merged flat platforms, i kilometre broad, outside more exposed coasts 

 in Ice Fjord — c. g. between Cole Bay and Advent Bay and at Cape 

 Thordsen — have been thus formed. 



As may be seen, the views of the present writer coincide in several 

 respects with those of B. Hogbom. He justly pcnnts out that, although 

 a great dislocation may probably have occurred along Tee Fjord, as sug- 

 gested by Gerard de Geer, this cannot explain the formation of the sub- 

 merged platform, intervening between the deep channel of the fjord and 

 the steep mountain side. 



B. Hogbom does not think it is possible to decide finallv at present 

 whether or to what extent, these platforms with their shore-cliffs have 

 been formed in postglacial time. 



His view obviousi}' is [cf. 10 14, p. 295] that the Norwegian strand- 

 flat has been formed in a similar manner. 



Angus AFE w e n Peach [1916] describes the strandfiat (which 

 he calls the Preglacial Platform) of Prince Charles Foreland, and also 

 along various parts of the coast of the mainland- of Spitsbergen. He 



