788 THE JOURNAL OF GEOLOGY. 



great thinness and flatness as compared with those of the west 

 side. This was more notably true of the lower one. They 

 nevertheless have lateral and terminal moraines of small dimen- 

 sions, but no moraines were seen in the valleys below them. 



Comparative features. — The general characteristics of the 

 glaciers of Disco Island are closely similar to the southern 

 Alpine type. They present the same forms of lateral, medial 

 and terminal moraines ; the same surface contours ; the same 

 terminal slopes ; the same freedom from drift on the general 

 surfaces, except as medial moraines, are superposed, or internal 

 drift comes out to the surface on terminal slopes. There is the 

 same habit of forming cataracts on steep descents, and of crevas- 

 sing at points of more moderate strain. The Disco glaciers 

 differ from typical Alpine glaciers in their less obvious activity. 

 They also differ in that they come from ice caps on relatively 

 flat plateaus instead of amphitheaters or mountain slopes or 

 ravines. This distinction is not absolute, for ice caps occur 

 among Alpine glaciers. 



It does not, therefore, appear that these glaciers present any 

 distinctive effects of latitude beyond the results of the low tem- 

 perature that makes them possible at such moderate elevations. 

 If we shall find a difference in the Inglefield Gulf region, its 

 cause will be one that comes into play chiefly between the Arctic 

 circle and the region far within it, rather than between the Arctic 

 circle and the middle latitudes. 



It is prudent to note, however, that these are but local ice 

 caps and local glaciers. The great ice cap of southern Green- 

 land and its dependencies may not have the same habit. At the 

 far north, however, the local ice caps and their dependencies 

 have the same habits as the great inland field and its depend- 

 encies. This gives ground for the belief that the features dis- 

 played in the Disco region are representative of southern Green- 

 land generally. I have not found the descriptions of the southern 

 Greenland glaciers sufficiently detailed on the points in question 

 to warrant a wholly confident interpretation, but I do not recall 

 anything inconsonant with this. T. C. Chamberlin. 



