VI SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON DRIFT ICE AS A TRANSPORTING 

 AGENT. BY WALTER H. PHEST, Bedford, N. S. 



(Read 10th March, 190J.) 



A second visit to Labrador has largely confirmed my obser- 

 vations of 1900*, and convinced me that the transportation of 

 debris by floating ice has been greatly overrated. Although 

 again in the midst of icebergs and field-ice for over three months, 

 I could find extremely few icebergs carrying earthy material. 

 The field-ice, in huge pans, often several acres in extent, and 40 

 or 50 feet thick, seemed almost as destitute of debris as the 

 bergs. The only drift-bearing ice was comparatively thin, 

 usually much broken up arid refro/en.and without doubt formed 

 in shallow coast waters. Near the Straits of Belle Isle, the little 

 remaining djbris on this was nearly all marine or much mixed 

 with marine organisms. Further north, especially in the bays, 

 the transported material was largely of littoral origin. This 

 difference was owing to the fact that the surf had nearly 

 completed its cleansing process before the arrival of the ice at the 

 Straits. Some of this debris-bearing ice, when examined closely, 

 is found to be merely discoloured by a very fine, dust like 

 material, probably not T ^a part f the weight of the ice bearing it. 



I had the pleasure of seeing how the harbor ice received its 

 burden, on a shallow, sandy shore called the Strand, a short 

 distance north of Sandwich Bay. Parts of this coast, even in 

 the month of June, were fringed with ice near high- water mark. 

 Over this ran rivulets carrying mud and gravel from the banks 

 above, while the waves contributed their share of debris in the 

 form of sand, seaweed, and shells. 



One fact strongly supporting my contention of 1900, was 

 brought the more prominently to my notice as I went north. 

 This was the ever increasing quantity of debris on the thin ice 



* See paper by the writer in Trans. N. S. I. S.. vol. x, pt. 3. 



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