THE DEPOSITS OF THE SEA-BOTTOM. 2 3 



opinion that the drift of the ice is upon the whole of very small importance; in what manner then 

 the ingredients over o-5 mm can be carried to that distance from the coast in which they are found, 

 becomes thus a very difficult question to solve. As they precipitate with a rather great rate of motion, 

 so that for inst. a grain of a diameter of i ram will sink about ioo faths in half an hour, it is difficult 

 to suppose that they can be transported by means of the currents so far out in the sea, as they 

 really are found. In a later section where the mineralogical nature of these ingredients will be ex- 

 amined, I shall have a better opportunity of entering upon the details of these questions, as it has 

 also to be taken into consideration, from which land these minerals may be thought to have been 

 procured, as also that the transporting effect may be different for the different ingredients. 



On the chart showing the distribution of the coarser ingredients two curves have been drawn, 

 one for i per ct, and one for cri per ct. ; they will be seen to be very close together, there being 

 upon the whole comparatively few specimens between these two values. To draw more curves can 

 not easily be done, as neither the higher numbers especially found on the two ridges, nor the lower 

 ones are distributed with any recognizable regularity; the before mentioned specimens, 65 and 105, 

 are to be treated as exceptions, and can not be given any influence on the direction of the curves; 

 whether this is also to be the case with specimen 19, is not easily decided, this specimen being rather 

 isolated from the others; it seems, however, to be most correct to class it with the two others. 



A closer examination of the ingredients of the next size of grain, 0-5 — o - 05 mm will show, that 

 generally they are found most abundantly nearest to the land, what was also to be expected ; although 

 some deviations from this rule are found, the distribution is upon the whole rather regular; the largest 

 amount of sandy ingredients are found in the specimens 29 and 33 at the west coast of Greenland, 

 which specimens have 9330 and 95'5i per ct. , and consequently may be designated as very pure and 

 homogenous sand; the smallest percentages are found in the specimens 38 west of Greenland with 

 o p 88 per ct. , 80 soirthwest of Iceland with o - 86 per ct. , 139 and 140 north of the Faroe Islands with 

 o - 8o and 0-89 per ct. , and finally 118 between Iceland and Jan Mayen with 0-42 per ct., which last 

 specimen thus is the one poorest in the larger mineral ingredients. It is otherwise impossible in detail 

 to account for the causes of the irregularities that appear in the distribution of these ingredients, as 

 they are too closely connected as well with the nearest larger as with the nearest smaller particles 

 to be kept separate. 



This latter remark may to a still higher degree be applied to the next size of grain, the 

 particles between o-05 mm and o-02 mm . The percentages in which these are found in the specimens, do 

 not vary so much, as the case is with some of the other sizes; generally the amount decreases from 

 10 — 20 per ct. closer to the laud to less than 5 per ct. farthest out, but the decreasing is not so regular 

 as in the preceding size. The largest amount is found in no. 13, viz. 25-03 per ct, the smallest amounts 

 in the same specimens as before noted, the very smallest amount in specimen 140 with only 030 per ct 

 As the two sizes, 0-05 — 0-05 and C05 — C02, are upon the whole distributed according to about the 

 same laws, I have in the map, pi. IV, noted the aggregate amounts of both sizes, that is to say the 

 particles between 0-5 and o - 02 mm ; accordingly this chart will upon the whole give an idea of the 

 distribution of all the sandy particles. It will here be seen that the curves lie the closer to the land, 

 the smaller this land is, as was also to be expected ; further that the ridges between the Faroe Islands 



