26 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 



The cliffs on some parts of the coast are built up 

 of limestones, sandstones, shales, and old pebble 

 beaches containing the remains of animals and 

 plants characteristic of several geological periods 

 and clearly indicating climatic conditions within 

 the Arctic Circle much more genial than those at 

 the present day. Even in the extreme north, on 

 the shore of the Polar Sea, limestone rocks have 

 been described by the Danish geologist, Koch, as 

 veritable coral reefs of the Palaeozoic era. 



The most northerly point at which fossil plants 

 have been found is on the east coast of Greenland, 

 between lat. 80 N. and 81 N. Fragmentary re- 

 mains of plants were found by the Denmark 

 Expedition of 1906-1908: these were described 

 by the late Professor Nathorst, who recognised 

 them as members of a flora which preceded that 

 of our Coal Measures. The locality where these 

 plants were found is nearer to the North Pole 

 than any previously recorded for Carboniferous 

 plants. 



Greenland is a mountainous plateau mainly com- 

 posed of some of the oldest rocks in the world 

 belonging to a stage in the history of the earth (the 

 Archaean period) which is shrouded in mystery: 

 of the life of this period we have no certain know- 

 ledge. On the extreme northern coast, also at 

 many places on the east and west coasts, the 

 presence of thick series of ancient sediments and 

 of rocks consisting of accumulated masses of the 

 calcareous skeletons of marine animals is evidence 

 of recurrent subsidences of the land and the sub- 



