64 POLAR PROBLEMS 



Canadian Government to patrol the shores of northern Hudson Bay 

 and of the eastern Arctic islands; and he had also landed at some 

 points on the west coast of Greenland. In preparing the map he drew 

 upon the work of Richardson, M'Clintock, Dawson, Bell, and Sver- 

 drup and made use of the paleontological results obtained by Feilden^ 

 in Ellesmere Island (1875-1876), and of Per Schei,^ geologist on 

 Sverdrup's expedition in 1898-1902. 



It is to be noted that in most parts of Low's map only the coast 

 lines are geologically colored, giving a more correct idea of what is 

 actually known of the million square miles of land comprised in the 

 Arctic Archipelago and Greenland. 



J. G. McMillan, geologist of the Arctic expedition sent north by 

 the Government of Canada in 1908- 1909, has briefly summed up 

 previous work and corrected some statements in regard to the Car- 

 boniferous beds of Melville Island.^ 



American, Danish, and Swiss explorers have done excellent work 

 in Greenland, and Arctic Alaska has been largely explored by the 

 U. S. Geological Survey, while Canadian geologists have done recon- 

 naissance work on the western part of the Arctic mainland shore of 

 Canada and in Labrador, 



Review of Problems by Geological Periods 



It will be convenient to take up the problems of our Arctic sector 

 in historic order, beginning with the oldest formations, advancing 

 through the later ones, and ending with some problems concerning the 

 distribution of living plants and animals. 



Special attention will be paid to changes of climate and to features 

 connected with the ice sheets of the past and present. 



Pre-Cambrian 



Most reports on northern exploration refer to areas of granite and 

 gneiss like the Laurentian of more southern parts of Canada, and 

 there is reason to believe that the Canadian Shield of Suess, with its 



3 H. W. Feilden and C. E. De Ranee: Geology of the Coasts of the Arctic Lands Visited by 

 the Late British Expedition under Capt. Sir George Nares, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, Vol. 34, 1878, 

 PP- 556-567, with geological map, 1:4,200,000. 



C. E. De Ranee and H. W. Feilden: On the Geological Structure of the Coasts of Grinnell Land 

 and Hall Basin Visited by the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-6, Appendix is to Sir G. S. Nares: 

 Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea, 2 vols., London, 1878. 



^ Per Schei: Summary of Geological Results, Geogr. Journ., Vo\. 22, 1903, pp. 56-55; idem: Pre- 

 liminary Account of the Geological Investigations Made During the Second Norwegian Polar Expedi- 

 tion in the "Fram," Appendix i to Otto Sverdrup: New Land, 2 vols., New York, 1904. 



After Schei's death in 1905 a number of detailed studies were published of the specimens he 

 had brought back. These studies and Schei's own work are summarized in Olaf Holtedahl: Summary 

 of Geological Results, Report of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition in the "Fram" 1898-1902, 

 No. 36, Christiania, 1917. 



5 J. G. McMillan: Report of the Geologist of the Arctic Expedition, 1908-09, Appendix No. 10 

 to J. E. Bernier: Report on the Dominion of Canada Government Expedition to the Arctic Islands 

 and Hudson Strait on Board the D. G. S. Arctic, Ottawa, 1910, with geological map, 1:4,700,000. 



