TRACES OF FORMER GLACIATION 287 



Victoria Land. Captain Scott * records the fact that on the slopes of Mount 

 Terror morainic material was traced up to a height of 240 metres above the present 

 level of the ice surface, while near Cape Royds and at Cape Armitage the presence 

 of erratics, and general shape of the hills, showed that the whole of that region had 

 recently been over-ridden by an ice-sheet. On p. 273 the fact that some sixty years 

 before Scott's Expedition Sir James C. Ross found the front of the Ice Barrier in 

 McMurdo Sound some 30 miles in advance of where it proved to be at the time of 

 the Discovery Expedition in 1900 obviously points to an immense recent recession of 

 the Great Ice Barrier. 



H. T. Ferrar, the Geologist to the Discovery Expedition, similarly records f that 

 in the Ferrar Glacier Valley there is evidence of morainic material some 3000 feet 

 above the present level of the glacier now occupying that valley. Similar evidence 

 is afforded by the numerous erratics from the mainland perched on top of Black and 

 White Island to the south of the Discovery's headquarters. 



We may now briefly summarise the evidence collected by the Shackleton Ex- 

 pedition of the former greater extension of the Antarctic glaciers of South Victoria 

 Land. Details have already been given earlier in this Report. 



Conclusive evidence is afforded as to the former greater height of the ice of the 

 outlet glaciers by the strongly glaciated and grooved character of nunataks, rocky 

 promontories, coastal lulls now more or less ice-free, and summits of low ranges 

 adjacent to the outlet glaciers. Similar evidence is afforded by the glaciation of 

 islands and deposition on them of moraines at altitudes now considerably above the 

 level of the present glaciation. 



If we commence at the northern end of the area examined by our expedition we 

 find that in the case of the Reeves Glacier, between Mount Nansen and Mount 

 Larsen, there rises a bold nunatak, the Hansen Nunatak.J This rises to an altitude 

 of 2600 feet above sea-level, and about 1600 feet above the level of the adjacent 

 glacier ice. The general appearance of Mount Larsen, Mount Gerlache, and Mount 

 Crummer suggests that they have all been recently over-ridden by a heavy ice-sheet. 

 The summit of Mount Larsen rises over 1400 feet above the level of the adjacent 

 glacier ice. At Backstairs Passage, between Mount Crummer and Mount Gerlache, 

 strongly glaciated terraces of granite, now completely ice-free, are exposed to view 

 at levels of 500 to 600 feet above the adjacent glacier ice. The group of mountains 

 between the Larsen Glacier and the David Glacier, Mount Bellinghausen and Mount 

 Neumayer, have also obviously been over-ridden by the old ice-sheet. The great 

 wall of granite, the D'Urville Wall, whicli. bounds the David Glacier on the north, 

 has most obviously been due to the action of glacier ice. 



Cape Irizar, 600 feet above sea-level, shows evidence of having been intensely 



* Captain Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. pp. 271-273. 



t Royal Geographical Society's Journal. 



I Called the Reeves Nunatak by the members of Scott's last expedition. 



