232 FRIDTJOF NANSFN. M.-.\. Kl. 



Tlic Tromlli jcm rcj^-^ion was very near lo the outer üiar^'in of the 

 Fenno-Scandian ice-cap. In its eastern, south-eastern, and southern 

 portions the ice-cap prohahly thinnerl off niucli more {.(radually. In the 

 region of (iniland its averaj^^e thickness may lia\e Ijeen about 250 inetres 

 as a niininiuni, l)ut was ])rohaIjly much more. 



If we estimate the averaj^fc tliickness of the Fenno-.Scandian ice-cap 

 at its maximum rlevelfjpment durinj:;^ the last glacial period to have been 

 at least ^«0 metres, we are certainly on tlie safe side. Probably it was 

 a good rlcal more. 



This icc-caj) was, however, very small when compared with the north 

 European ice-cap of the Great Ice Age during its maximum development, 

 and the average thickness of that ice-ca[) was probably much greater. 



Near South Cape on Spitsbergen A. Hoel and \V. Werenskiold have 

 recently found raised strand-lines and beaches at a height of as much as 

 340 metres above present sea-level. A submergence of this magnitude 

 would corresi)onfl to the weight of an ice-cap which was at least 11 30 

 metres thicker than the present inland-ice of Spitsbergen and probably 

 much more. The formula p. 231 gives 1418 metres. As this raised beach 

 was observed near the southern end of the land, it means an enormous 

 increase of its glaciation. 



On the top of Cape Flora, on the south coast of Franz Josef Land, 

 at a height of about 330 metres above the sea. Dr. Reginald Koettlitz 

 [1898] found water-worn pebbles which seemed to indicate a beach. 

 A submergence of this height might indicate that this part of Franz Josef 

 Land has recently been covered by an ice-cap which was at least iioo 

 metres (or 1376 metres according to the formula p. 231) thicker than its 

 present glacial covering. 



In Greenland and in Grinnell and Grant Land there are also numerous 

 raised beaches and strand-lines proving a recent upheaval of the land and 

 indicating that during the last glacial period the ice-cap has been con- 

 siderably thicker than now; and it was more widely extended over the 

 whole now bare land of the west coast of Greenland, as well as of its 

 northern east coast. 



During the maximum development of the ice-caps of the Great 

 Ice Age, they were much more widely extended in Europe as well as in 

 AiTierica and Greenland, &;c., and also covered the broad continental 

 shelves surrounding the coasts. For instance the whole of the shallow 

 Barents Sea between Norway, Russia, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, 

 and Spitsbergen was probably covered by a thick ice-cap. The mean depth 

 of this sea is perhaps 200 metres. I have moreover found indications of 

 a glaciation in northern Siberia, and have also observed raised strand- 

 lines on islands outside that coast, probably indicating a considerable 

 lateglacial submergence of the coast land of those regions. 



