Figure 43. Boundaries of glacial regions, fossil ice and 

 permafrost. 



The question of whether present-day glaciation is, as a whole, a relic, or if at a given stage 

 it is in a state of equilibrium, is extremely interesting but still unsolved. 



Brooks, especially in Greenland, does not consider glaciation a relic. He points out that on 

 the western side of Greenland, the snow line passes approximately 90 km from the shore and 

 divides the ice dome into two parts, accumulating and destroying. The accumulating part annually 

 receives 36 cm of precipitation. The thickness of the destroying part decreases from 2 m at the 

 edge to m at the snow line and averages 95 cm. Of these 95 cm, about 75 per cent is destroyed 

 in melting and evaporation and about 25 per cent in the formation of icebergs along a 90 km belt. 



The glacier color of Greenland, and also its numerous glaciers, have been comparatively 

 well studied through observations made during crossings of the icecap and also through observa- 

 tions made during the numerous sledge and marine expeditions. 



The icecap of Greenland consists of two domes: the northern, having its center near 75° 

 north, and the southern, having its center near 65° north, with corresponding heights of 3, 250 and 

 2, 920 m (possibly there is a third dome in the area of Angmatssalik). According to Wegener's 

 seismometric measurements, the thickness of the ice in the western part of the cap attains 2 to 3 

 km. If the entire mass of Greenland ice is melted, the level of the ocean would rise approximately 

 8 m.* between the northern and southern domes of the icecap, approximately along the 70th paral- 

 lel (Greenland is divided by a deep valley). Into this valley the ice flows along the slopes of both 

 domes and, further, along the valley into the sea, mainly on the side of the Baffin Gulf since the 



*It has also been computed that if all the ice covering the antarctic mainland is melted, the 

 level of the world ocean would rise 23 m. 



123 



