ANTARCTIC GEOLOGY 327 



Paleogeographical Problems 



Exigencies of space do not permit more than brief reference to 

 the highly interesting but speculative problem of the past relations 

 of Antarctica to the continental masses lying to the north. 



A consensus of scientific opinion insists upon the direct connection 

 of Graham Land to Patagonia which is so clearly revealed in the 

 similarity of geological architecture of the two regions. The course 

 of the intervening bridge is more in dispute. The contention of Reiter 

 and Arctowski of an arcuate trend line from Patagonia through South 

 Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, and the South Orkneys to 

 Graham Land is supported by Suess in his interpretation of the South- 

 ern Antilles as a Pacific structure advancing for the second time into 

 the Atlantic region. 



On the interpretation adopted, Coats Land is comparable to the 

 Brazilian foreland. The principal difficulty that has since been urged 

 against this conception is the supposed Paleozoic structure of South 

 Georgia. Despite much recent research on this island, its geology is 

 very unsatisfactorily determined; the most reliable evidence, however, 

 suggests that folded Mesozoic rocks are present, though no Tertiary 

 lavas have been recorded. Apart from the further geological data 

 required, an accurate bathy metrical survey of the floor between the 

 islands is much to be desired, and here, again, echo sounding may 

 prove a potent weapon. 



Returning to the Pacific region, more speculative biologic evidence, 

 revealed in the close affinity of the Cretaceous fauna of New Zealand, 

 Patagonia, and Graham Land, suggests that these regions lay at the 

 close of Cretaceous time on the southern coast of the Pacific Ocean, 

 involving the existence of a circum-Pacific land connection which was 

 severed in Tertiary times. This conception is clearly not disharmo- 

 nious with the views already stated with regard to the possible con- 

 tinuation of the Andean chain of Graham Land westward to the 

 Pacific. This brings us face to face with the problem of Gondwana 

 Land, of which East Antarctica, through the discovery of a Glossop- 

 teris flora as far south as 85° S., is now commonly considered a com- 

 ponent part. Any adequate discussion of this problem with reference 

 to Antarctica would lead us far afield into paleobotanical and paleo- 

 climatological evidence of an admittedly speculative kind. On the 

 botanical side we can do no better than quote from Professor A. C. 

 Seward : 



The origin of the higher plants is still an unsolved problem, but knowledge ac- 

 quired since 1 881 . . . renders it difficult to escape from the conclusion that the 

 ancient continent of Gondwana extended to within a short distance of the South 

 Pole or even to the Pole itself, whether as a continuous continent or as an archipelago 

 of islands cannot be determined. Meagre as it is, the material collected by the Polar 

 Party calls up a picture of an Antarctic land on which it is reasonable to believe 



