ANTARCTIC GLACIOLOGY 333 



Need on Future Expeditions of Detailed 

 Paleoclimatological Observations 



The most pertinent example of such dangerous generalization the 

 authors can cite is perhaps the preceding account of Antarctic paleo- 

 climatology. It is, however, strictly necessary from the present point 

 of view. To gain a general view of the situation as it appears from 

 evidence at present available, some such summary is essential. Its 

 truth is not so certain. All that can be said is that expedition after 

 expedition has traversed the great outlet valleys of the East Antarctic 

 horst or the glaciers of the Graham Land area where the best rock 

 sections are exposed. Here, in one place or another, complete sections 

 through the sedimentary rocks down to the basal Archean complex 

 have been seen and examined. Sometimes the examination has been 

 made by geologists, sometimes not. In all cases, however, intelligent 

 men- — often specialists studying other branches of polar science — have 

 accompanied the sledge parties, and much of the preceding winter 

 has been spent learning the elements of the recognition of rocks and 

 other geological signs. Glacial remains, moreover, whether in the 

 form of striated pebbles, roches moutonnees with their grooved surfaces, 

 boulder clays or their older equivalents, the tills, or even the varve 

 clays which invariably mark the closing stages of a glacial or the course 

 of an interglacial period, are comparatively easily recognizable and 

 could hardly have been consistently overlooked. The amount of 

 negative evidence is thus considerable, in addition to the positive 

 evidence provided by the floras and faunas to which reference has 

 already been made. The two together are by no means sufficient to 

 make certain that no pre-Eocene glacial period has existed in the 

 area about the south pole, but the presumption that ice has been the 

 exception is a reasonable one. 



It remains a presumption, however; and one of the chief tasks of 

 future parties will be to accumulate further evidence, whether it 

 upholds or rebuts the view set forth above. Every member of each 

 sledge party in the future should know the elements of this branch of 

 geology and should be instructed to pay particular attention to the col- 

 lection of paleoclimatological evidence of any sort. Every exposure 

 should be closely examined with this end in view. The collection and 

 labeling of specimens should be a duty common to all but directed by 

 the member of the party most suited to the task. The history of past 

 parties as regards the collection of geological evidence would be un- 

 believable were it not so well attested. Strong sledge parties have 

 traversed whole mountain ranges without taking a specimen either 

 from moraine or cliff. The whole paleontological evidence of a major 

 expedition has come by sheer chance from a small specimen collected as 

 a souvenir by a sailor, jealously hidden from the responsible authorities 



