CHAP. XII.] ICENIAN PERIOD. 253 



faunas on each side of it. " From the Faroes to Iceland 

 an undulating bottom exists, reaching a depth of 368 

 fathoms, whence a plunge takes place to 686 fathoms, and 

 within 30 miles recovers to 350 fathoms. Across the Den- 

 mark Straits, between Iceland and Eastern Greenland, the 

 depth nowhere reaches 500 fathoms." 



If this tract of comparatively shallow water were land, 

 as it is believed to have been in Miocene and Eocene times, 

 and if Greenland was then united to America, as is most 

 probable, no Arctic currents could have entered the Atlan-* 

 tic Ocean, and the climate of its northern shores would be 

 much milder than at present. Under such geographical 

 conditions Greenland and Iceland may have been fitted to 

 support a luxuriant flora, as they undoubtedly did in 

 Eocene times ; for Dr. A. E. Wallace observes that " the 

 existence at the present time of an ice-clad Greenland is 

 an anomaly in the northern hemisphere, and only to be ex- 

 plained by the fact that cold currents from the polar seas, 

 flow down both sides of it." 1 



Newer Pliocene Time. From the general relations of the 

 newer to the older Pliocene beds we may conclude that an 

 upheaval of considerable extent took place at the close of 

 the older epoch, and that these older deposits (Coralline- 

 Crag, &c.) were raised into the condition of dry land. The 

 present position of the Lenham Sands shows that the up- 

 lift was greatest over the Wealden area, while Suffolk was. 

 either never raised to such an elevation, or was subse-. 

 quently depressed to a much greater extent. We may 

 safely say that the waters of the Diestian Sea were entirely 

 displaced from the British, French, and Belgian areas for 

 a certain length of time, and that these three countries 

 were united into one broad, mass of land, which stretched 

 northward to Iceland and Greenland, as heretofore through* 

 out the Tertiary era. 



1 Island Life," 1880, p. 149. 



