^44 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



i. Elevation of Spitzbergen — Sinking of the Western Coast, and 

 Elevation of the Eastern Coast of Greenland— Gradual Submer- 

 sion of tlie Forests of Labrador and of Nova Scotia — Roman 

 Constructions engulfed in the Low Countries — Origin of the 

 Zuyder Zee — Failure of the Dutch Si a-dams— The Valley of 

 the Somme and the Coasts of Normandy follow the movement 

 of subsidence of the Low Countries. 



Spitzbergen is going through a phase of elevation. 

 Ancient coasts are now about 50 feet above the 

 level of the sea. Siberia follows the same move- 

 ment. Timbers floated anfl thrown on to the coast 

 by the waves, are now in the interior, at a dis- 

 tance of 40 or 50 kilometres from the shore. An 

 ancient island, still separated from the continent in 

 1760, was connected with the mainland in 1820, 



The line of subsidence, of which we have spoken 

 above, passes to the south of the British Isles, the 

 northern portion of which (Scotland) has been 

 elevated some 25 feet since the Eoman period. 

 It commences to the north-west, between Greenland 

 and Iceland. The ruins of ancient monuments 

 may still be seen beneath the water. A Danish 

 naturalist, Dr. Singel, has proved that during the 

 last four centuries, the sea has encroached on the 

 land over a length of more than 900 kilometres 

 from north to south — a circumstance which had made 

 it necessary to remove, repeatedly, some factories 



