GEOLOGY 189 



there has been a considerable uplift of the land, as proved by 

 the marine terraces found along the coasts. The maximum 

 uplift probably amounted to 700 feet along the eastern side of 

 Baffin island, and was perhaps slightly less on the islands 

 farther north, where Schei reports beaches 600 feet and up- 

 wards above the present sea level. This being the case, a new 

 explanation must be found for the depression and subsequent 

 uplift of the land covered by ice, if the uplift be practically the 

 same in northern Ellesmere, where the accumulation of ice is 

 nearly as great to-day as at any previous time, while in the 

 southern part of Baffin island a great thickness of ice was 

 present during the Glacial period and has now completely dis- 

 appeared. Perhaps we have been taking cause for effect, and 

 the uplift due to some unknown cause may have been the cause 

 of a. lessening of the ice; certainly the almost equal rise of the 

 land throughout the Arctic islands is an argument against the 

 subsidence of the northern lands being due to the burden of the 

 ice-cap, and the subsequent uplift due to the disappearance of 

 that burden. 



DETAILS OF THE GEOLOGY BY ISLAND GROUPS. 



It is exceedingly difficult to write a readable, concise and 

 comprehensive account of the geology of the territory included 

 in this report without subdividing it in some manner. This 

 has been attempted by considering the different formations 

 under their separate headings, and dividing the territory, as has 

 been done in the geographical description, into groups of 

 islands, and considering each of the great geological divisions 

 separately. 



