Section 54. Fossil Ice 



As has already been indicated, there are no glaciers of any significance to the life of the sea 

 east of Sevemaya Zemlya. This phenomenon is explained not only by the more southern location 

 of the islands found here, but basically by the insignificant amount of precipitation. The warm and 

 humid air masses from the Atlantic Ocean and Greenland and Barents Seas meeting the elevations 

 of Novaya Zemlya and Sevemaya Zemlya in their course are considerably dehumidified. 



On the other hand, in the region east of Cape Cheliuskin, there are noteworthy deposits of 

 "fossil ice, " buried under later bottom deposits. 



According to Toll, fossil ice represents remnants of the same mainland ice as the ice cover 

 of Greenland, and consists of prismatic pieces firmly connected with each other and heaped without 

 any order. The surface of the separate grains is covered by pits into which, like joints, fit the 

 projections of the adjacent grains. The size of the large grains reaches 10x5 square mm. In this 

 way, the structure of fossil ice bespeaks of its snow origin. 



Fossil ice is found in the southern part of the northern island of Novaya Zemlya (figure 52), 

 but it assumes a much more clear-cut form in the Laptev Sea and the Liakhovskii Islands. On B. 

 Liakhovskii Island,* the wall of fossil ice rises 35 to 40 m above the sea. At close scrutiny, this 

 wall consists of a sheer ice cornice, under which is located a recess braced against a terrace, 

 formed by the soil falling from above which preserves the lower layer from melting. In the lower 

 layer of fossil ice, the sea washes out large grottoes and caves. Shores of this type on Bolshoi 

 Liakhovskii and Novaya Sibiryi Islands (New Siberian Islands) ends in an "ice bottom, " which 

 extends far from the shore and is covered by crushed earth material. 



Figure 52. Fossil ice on Novaya Zemlya. 



*The length of Liakhovskii Island along the parallel is about 100 km and along the meridian 

 about 50 km. Eighty per cent of its area is occupied by fossil ice. 



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