TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



1-1 o 



and passed two months in the southern island, crossing it for the first time from 

 ■west to east. 



The views of von ]^)aer and other earlier explorers that Novaia Zemlia is 

 geologically connected with the Pai-hoi are correct only as regards the southern 

 part and Yaigats ; the northern part of the southern island, including hoth sides of 

 Matotchkin Strait, show a north-westerly strike of the strata, therefore conform- 

 able, not with the Pai-hoi, but with the Ural. 



The folding process in Novaia Zemlia coincided with the Palaeozoic epoch, and 

 from that time denudation forces have been at work. In this way the system of 

 cross valleys has been developed and the well-known ^latotchkin shar formed. 



The glacial period in Europe was contemporaneous with that of Novaia Zemlia. 

 This was followed by its submergence beneath the ocean, together with vast tracts 

 of Northern Europe, Asia, and America. This submergence reduced the extent of 

 the glaciers in the north or mountainous region, entii-ely obliterating them in the 

 south, while the formation of deltas dates from the same period. 



Novaia Zemlia is now undergoing a new process of glaciation, which will 

 convert it into an icy wilderness. 



Various observations concerning other points of interest are contained in the 

 paper. 



4. Sea Temj^eratures Nortli of Spitsbergen. By B. Leigh Smith. 



The author in his schooner yacht ' Samson ' left Grimsby on May 16, 1871, with 

 the object of following the Gulf Stream northward. On June 15 he left Tromsci, 

 landed on Bear Island on the 30th, and cruised along the west and north coasts of 

 Spitsbergen, until the middle of September. In 1872 and 1873 these expeditions 

 were repeated, and numerous observations of temperature were made by means of 

 a Miller-Casella thermometer. The result was to prove for the first time the 

 undoubted existence of warm water beneath the cold surface layer. These facts, 

 although communicated to ' Petermann's Mitteilungen ' and to Professor Mohn by 

 the author's Norwegian sailing master, have not until this year been published 

 by him. 



Table of Temperatures on hoard the ^Samson,' 1871-72. 



