269 



From Melville Bay and the east coast of North Devon to- 

 wards the south and as far as a line from Cape Russell to 

 Buchanan Bay towards the north, both coasts of Smith Sound 

 Passage consists of primitive kinds of rocks , whilst the nor- 

 thern continuation from Kane Basin to Robeson Channel is 

 bounded by coasts which are built up of formations chiefly 

 originating from the Cambrian, Silurian and Trias periods. 



In agreement with the American geologists, who distinguish 

 between an older, Laurentian and a younger, Huronian group 

 among the primitive rocks, the southern part mentioned may 

 be said to consist of both groups. The older, harder, Lauren- 

 tian gneiss and granite form the coast on the Greenland side 

 from Melville Bay to Cape AthoU and from Foulke Fjord to 

 Cape Russell, while they constitute the whole of the opposite 

 coast of Ellesmere Land and North Devon with exception of a 

 part ca. 40 km long immediately south of Cape Isabella. 



The Laurentian coast is of a uniform height and shows 

 few indentations, whilst the Huronic coast, which includes the 

 small stretch at Cape Isabella as also the Greenland coast 

 round Inglefield Gulf and Wolstenholm Sound, is more indented 

 as well as more diversified and changeable as regards height 

 and steepness. "A series of bedded rocks consisting of several 

 thousand feet of sandstones, limestones and other sediments, 

 occupies the coast and islands of the east side of Smith Sound, 

 from Cape Alholl northward to Foulke Fjord. These bedded 

 rocks are associated with dark coloured traps and diabase, 

 which are present in the form of sills between the bedding; 

 as dikes cutting the bedding rocks and as large intrusive 

 masses."^ 



On the Huronic coast also, more frequently than on the 

 Laurentian, we find a low beach which is specially suited to 



^ A. P. Low: Keport on the Dominion Government Expedition to Hudson 

 Bay and the Arctic Islands on Board the D. G. S. Neptune 1903—1904. 

 Ottawa 1906, p. 207. 



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