1921. No. II. THE STRANDFLAT AND ISOSTASY. I9I 



Cold it is broader, nearly 5 kilometres, and along the coast to the south 

 it is between 2 and 3 and 4 kilometres broad. 



Along the east coast of the island the width of the submerged strand- 

 flat varies much, being mostly between i anrl 2 kilometres, but off the 

 north-east coast it has a wide extent, 7 to 8 kilometres. The surface of 

 this broad platform slopes gently from a depth of 10 metres near the 

 shore, to about 27 to 30 metres near the edge, which seems to be very 

 sharply defined towards the east and north-east, where the depths suddenly 

 increase to 126 and 178 metres, while towards the north and north-west 

 of Vogel Hook tlie sea-bottom slopes more gently outwards. 



It is a striking contrast between this wirle submerged plateau and 

 the total absence of a su])merged strandfiat along the west coast of 

 Brogger Peninsula on the opposite side of Foreland Sound. As the north- 

 east coast of Prince Charles Foreland is to some extent built up of 

 Tertiary sandstone and conglomerate, the probability is that the wide 

 submerged strandfiat, being a continuation of the very broad emerged 

 strandfiat, has, to some extent at least, been cut in rocks of this system 

 which have offered relatively little resistance to the shore erosion. On 

 the opposite side of Foreland Sound the strandfiat may, to some extent, 

 have been cut away by the glacier formerly extending far towards the 

 north-west from Comfortless Glacier. At the north-western end of 

 Brogger Peninsula, off Ouade Hook, however, there is a submerged 

 platform, which has not been cut away by the glaciers of Foreland Sound 

 or King Bay. 



Further south there is a Barrier ("Revet") across Foreland Sound, 

 from John Murray Point to Michael Sars Point, which, however, seems 

 to be built up of loose material, mostly sand, like the sand spit of Michael 

 Sars Point. 



Between this region and St. John Bay there is a submerged strandfiat 

 2 to 3 kilometres broad. The rock of the shore is here Tertiary and it is 

 the same on the opposite side of the sound on both sides of Ferrier Haven 

 and at Poole Point where the submerged strandfiat is also fairly broad. 



Considering that the emerged strandfiat is cut in solid rock, it seems 

 probable that the rock surface continues more or less in the platforms 

 under the sea surface. It is a striking fact that these platforms are 

 especially broad wdiere the shore is built up of Tertiary rocks, vis. off 

 the north-east coast of Prince Charles Foreland, north and south of 

 Michael Sars Point, at Ferrier Harbour, and at Poole Point. This seems 

 to indicate that the platforms are not built up of loose material to any 

 great extent. The Tertiary rocks have obviously been less resistant to 

 the shore erosion than the rocks of the Hecla Hook system. 



