66 
H. T. FERRAR. 
typical piedmont as the Malaspina Glacier * in that they ai - e supplied by driftings 
and snow-cascades from the adjoining land-mass, whereas the Malaspina Glacier lies 
below the snow-line and is only fed by distinct valley-glaciers. 
Three types of piedmont are distinguishable. 
(a.) Normal piedmonts, piedmonts-on-land. 
On the west side of McMurdo Sound, between the moraines and the Northern 
Foothills, there is a continuous ice-belt without apparent source of supply and lying 
wholly upon low land. This ice-belt occupies an area 10 miles long and 5 miles 
broad, and appears to be fed by the snow drifting over the lower passes of the 
foothills. On the west it covers the hills to a height of quite 1000 feet, but on the 
east it ends as an insignificant marginal sea-cliff less than 50 feet high. On the 
north it slopes sharply down towards the depression of the Ferrar Glacier, but on the 
south it merges into the Blue Glacier. On the whole the surface is convex, and 
slopes more steeply around the outer edge. The whole of the ice rests on land, and 
seems, by entirely burying the shore, to protect it from denudation. 
Occasionally, along the base of the Prince Albert Range, the convex ice-slopes, 
such as the one discussed, connect definite ice-streams, which, strangely enough, are 
always at a lower level. From Cape Bernacchi to Granite Harbour, and from there 
to Cape Gauss, there are two notable unbroken stretches of ice-covered land. These 
areas may be regarded as series of land-piedmonts. Occasionally, conspicuous sea- 
washed rock-cliffs protrude through them, and the ice-cliff facing the sea is obviously 
the edge of a broken ice-lenticle. The length of the mass varies from 10 to 50 miles, 
but the breadth cannot be more than about 10 miles. The evidence would seem to 
suggest that piedmonts are rather relics of a former greater ice-supply than products 
of the present conditions ; their action would appear to be now entirely protective. 
(b.) Piedmonts-aground. 
Piedmonts-aground are well represented along the sides of Coulman Island, 
which has bare cliff-sides and a fiat snow-covered top (Fig. 3, p. 5). It is surrounded 
by a comparatively low ice-wall produced by a talus of snow, which drifts off the 
top of the cliff and accumulates along the cliff-sides to form a continuous belt. 
Sometimes the talus is a mixture of rock and ice, but as a rule rock-matter was 
conspicuously rare. Small cascades of ice fall over the rock-cliff along the dykes 
and joint-cracks, which are seldom large enough to be called valleys. 
This fringe has in section a convex upper surface. Near the rock-cliff it 
becomes steeper. At the seaward edge the convexity increases, and the termina- 
tion is a cliff 100 feet high. Sections parallel to the shore would show a series of 
undulations, the crests being opposite to the main points of supply. Such fringes 
* I. C. Russell, ‘ Glaciers of North America,’ 1897, p. 109. 
