2 8o POLAR PROBLEMS 



ever, consist not only of the blue mud that surrounds the other conti- 

 nents but also of much terrigenous matter of a glacial character, mak- 

 ing appropriate E. Philippi's-^ designation of these sediments as 

 glacio-marine for the whole circuit of the Antarctic. 



Thus such sediments were found on Sir Douglas Mawson's^^ 

 expedition between Adelie Land and the Gaussberg northwards to 

 latitude 64° S. ; on the Gauss expedition in the adjoining area between 

 longitudes 80° and 95° E., likewise northwards to latitude 64° S.; 

 on Shackleton's Quest expedition^® between longitudes 17° E. and 46° 

 • W. along the Antarctic Circle; furthermore, on the tracks of the 

 Scotia, Antarctic, Deutschland, and Endurance throughout Weddell 

 Sea and, according to R. G. Mossman,-'^ in a tonguelike northward 

 projection toward Bouvet Island; and finally on the Belgica expedition 

 west of Graham Land between longitudes 70° and 100° W. along the 

 70th parallel.'^ North of this zone of glacio-marine sediments every- 

 where comes the diatom and then the globigerina ooze. This distribu- 

 tion is related to the currents and to the ice. For the glacio-marine 

 sediments extend as far as the ice drifts, and the diatom ooze extends 

 farther northwards into the area of the cold currents which come from 

 the ice, although it is found only rarely in the drift-ice belt itself. As 

 diatoms are particularly abundant on the surface of this belt, their 

 absence on the bottom is noteworthy. This absence, however, can 

 be explained by the fact that the glacio-marine sediments cover them, 

 as well as by the fact that the outward-flowing currents of polar water 

 carry these light organisms out of the ice towards the north. The dis- 

 tribution of globigerina ooze corresponds with the area of warm cur- 

 rents; therefore it lies north of the diatom ooze, but warm branch 

 currents have, in the Kerguelen region as well as in the southeastern 

 Pacific, carried it here and there southward along the bottom of the 

 drift-ice belt. Thus the distribution of the bottom sediments can 

 furnish evidence of the development of the present and former cur- 

 rents. The stratification of the bottom sediments found by the Gauss 

 expedition has already been interpreted in this manner ; this interpreta- 

 tion has been related to the former greater extension of the ice.^^ 



2' E. Philippi: Die Grundproben der Deutschen Siidpolar-Expedition 1901-1903 (Deutsche 

 Siidpolar-Expedition 1901-1903, herausg. von Erich von Drygalski, Vol. 2, Part VI), Berlin, 1910, 

 p. 578. 



25 Frederick Chapman: Sea-Floor Deposits from Soundings (Australasian Antarctic Expedition 

 1911-14 under the Leadership of Sir Douglas Mawson, Scientific Reports, Ser. A, Vol. 2, Oceanography, 

 Part I), Sydney, 1922, pp. 58-59. 



28 F. A. Worsley: The Voyage of the "Quest": The Hydrographic Work, Geogr. Journ., Vol. 

 61, 1923, pp. 97-103; reference on p. loi. 



" R. G. Mossman: The Physical Conditions of the Weddell Sea, Geogr. Journ., Vol. 48, 1916, 

 pp. 479-500; reference on p. 497. 



28 Henrj'k Arctowski: Geographic physique de la region antarctique visitee par I'Expedition de 

 la "Belgica," Bull. Soc. Royal Beige de Geogr., Vol. 24, 1900, pp. 93-175; reference on p. 139. 



29 Philippi, op. cit., pp. 591 ff. 



