Garwood and Gregory — Conway Spitsbergen Expedition. 437 



II. — The Geological Work op the Conway Spitzbergen 



Expedition. 



By E. J. Garwood, M.A., F.G.S., and J. W. Gregory, D.Sc, F.G.S. 



THE discovery by Keilhau in 1827 of Carboniferous fossils in 

 Spitzbergen first called attention to the geological interest of 

 this archipelago. The collections subsequently made by Robert 

 during the voyage of the " Recherche " in 1838, by Loven in 1837, 

 by Drasche in 1872, and by the series of Swedish expeditions under 

 Baron A. E. von Nordenskiold between 1858 and 1873, proved the 

 occurrence of beds belonging to the Archean, Lower Palaeozoic, 

 Devonian, Carbonifei'ous, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Miocene 

 systems. The fossils collected by these explorers are now in the 

 museums of Christiania, Paris, Stockholm, and Vienna; but up till 

 the present the only collections in London are a few specimens of 

 Devonian fish obtained by exchange, and of Carboniferous 

 Brachiopods collected by Mr. Lamont. It was, therefore, part of 

 the work of Sir Martin Conway's expedition to obtain a series of 

 fossils to represent as fully as possible all the successive faunas and 

 floras of this far northern archipelago. Pi-evious work on the 

 geology of Spitzbergen had, moreover, been carried out on the coast, 

 and it was Sir Martin Conway's main object to explore the interior. 

 These two considerations lessened the thoroughness of the geological 

 study of the country and the extent of the collections, for we had to 

 travel long distances to reach rocks of different systems, and 

 transport of heavy geological specimens from the interior was 

 difficult. Nevertheless, considerable collections were made, which, 

 besides serving to represent the Spitzbergen fossils, will probably 

 aid in the more exact correlation of the horizons from which they 

 come, and throw light on the migrations of the faunas. 



The expedition arrived in Advent Bay on the 19th of June, and 

 finished landing the stores by the evening of the next day. Prepara- 

 tions were at once made for the march inland, Sir Martin Conway 

 and Mr. Garwood leaving on the 21st to establish the first food 

 depot. From this point the inland party pushed up the valley that 

 ascends from the head of Advent Bay ; after three days' march we 

 camped on a col leading into a corresponding valley that runs inland 

 from Sassen Bay. During the descent into this valley we found 

 a remarkable esker, which told the story of its formation. At this 

 point the party had to halt, owing to the collapse of the sledges ; 

 while one of us returned to Advent Bay to repair them, the other 

 made a collection from the Triassic rocks of the mountains beside the 

 camp. Below the Trias were beds of Carboniferous limestone and 

 chert ; a stream had cut a deep gorge through these, and at its head 

 plunged over a fine waterfall, which gave our resting-place the name 

 of " Waterfall Camp." The sledges having returned, we resumed 

 our journey to the east. At first our route lay along a valley cut 

 through the Triassic rocks to the Carboniferous ; occasional outcrops 

 of the latter could be seen on the foot of the valley-walls. Most of 

 the floor was occupied by recent alluvium, while a series of raised 



