NO. 2.J GEOLOGICAL SKETCH BY NANSEN. 23 



seen that he holds the opinion that they are Upper Jurassic or Lower 

 Cretaceous or belonging to the transition beds between the Jurassic and 

 Cretaseous Systems and it will be seen from Pompeckj's paper that there is 

 probably no great interval in time between the Jurassic horizon to which 

 they belong, and that of the upper clay beds just below the basalt. 



If this shale with plant-remains in it was actually in situ, that is, as it 

 was originally deposited, and not broken up and lifted by intrusive basalt, il 

 would give us a clue to the age of the basalt; the latter would then to some 

 extent also be Upper Jurassic or Lower Cretaceous. I therefore expressed my 

 opinion on this head, upon my return from the expedition l , having arrived at the 

 conclusion that the shale must actually have been in situ. My principal reason 

 for this was that the basalt on which the shale was lying, could hardly be 

 intrusive, judging from its structure, which more resembled that of a lava. 

 Moreover, if this shale with plant remains had been raised by intrusive masses, it 

 must have rested almost immediately on the top of the highest Jurassic clay beds 

 we found near Elmwood, as it was only 30 m. (100 feet) higher at most (if there 

 had not been dislocation at this place, cf. p. 20). But if so, it seems strange 

 that we nowhere found any trace of similar deposits on the top of the clay. 



There were also other reasons, which made me believe that the basalt was 

 partly Jurassic, especially the basalt bed found in the clay at the top of the 

 talus behind Elmwood (see above p. 15.), which was not of intrusive character. 

 Then I also doubted that intrusive masses would be able to extend them- 

 selves in almost regular horizontal layers, some only a few feet thick, as men- 

 tioned above p. 15, in soft clay, such as we have to deal with here 2 . 



None of these evidences, however, were absolutely convincing, and New- 

 ton and Teall, who are so familiar with the Scottish basalts, therefore main- 

 tained, as being more reasonable, that the basalts of Franz Josef Land, like 

 other extensive basalt-flows of the northern hemisphere, are of Tertiary origin 8 . 



1 Nansen. ^Farthest North" (1897), vol. II, p. 479. See also n Some Results of the 

 Norwegian Arctic Expedition 1893-%". Geogr. Journal, vol. IX (1897), p. 489. 



Having discussed the point with Teall, I expressed myself somewhat more cautiously 

 in the Norwegian edition of my book, which was finished more than half a year later 

 than the English edition. See n Fram over Polhavet", Kristiania, 1897, vol. II, pp. 515-517 

 See also the German edition, n ln Nacht und Eis". Neue revidirte Ausgabe. Leipzig, 

 1898, vol. II, pp. 486-488. 



2 ,,Fram over Polhavet", vol. II, p. 516. n ln Nacht und Eis". Neue revid. Ausgabe. 

 Leipzig, 1898, vol. II, p. 487. 



' L. c. 1897, pp. 490, 519. 



