SUMMARY OF GEOLOGICAL JOURNEYS 



BY F. DEBENHAM, B.A., B.Sc., Assistant Geologist to the 



Expedition 



OWING to the early publication of this book before any of the 

 material brought back has been examined, it is difficult to state 

 the exact nature or importance of the geological results of the 

 Expedition. 



A summary of the work done will perhaps to some extent 

 indicate its scope. 



Of the three geologists accompanying the Expedition two 

 were with the main party on Ross Island, Mr. T. Griffith Taylor 

 and Mr. Frank Debenham. A third, Mr. Raymond E. Priestley, 

 was with the Northern Party, stationed the first year at Cape 

 Adare, the second in the Mt. Nansen region. 



It had been among Captain Scott's original plans to maintain 

 a geological party in the field during each sledging season, and 

 this was carried out until the third season, when the Search Party 

 took all available men. 



The special geological journeys from the main base at Cape 

 Evans were as follows : 



In the autumn of 1911 a party of four, under Mr. Taylor, 

 spent six weeks in the foothills of the Royal Society Range, ex- 

 amining and surveying about eighty miles of coast line, including 

 Dry Valley and the Ferrar and Koettlitz glaciers. Mr. C. S. 

 Wright accompanied this party and studied ice phenomena under 

 the most typical conditions. 



The next summer another geological party under Mr. Taylor 

 spent three months on the coast to the north of McMurdo Sound, 

 making their base at Granite Harbour. During this, probably 

 the most comprehensive geological journey yet made in the 

 South, a complete detailed survey of the coast and the hinterland 

 was made both by theodolite and plane-table. 



The Mackay Glacier was ascended almost to its outfall from 

 the plateau, and fossils associated with coal beds were found. 



