RECENT GEOLOGY OF SPITZBERGEN 613 



the usual trough, but such evidence of extended erosion is not dis- 

 tinct in those Spitzbergen valleys seen by the writer. Possibly the 

 evidence is more satisfactory farther up those valleys where the floor 

 becomes somewhat abrupt. On Advent Bay, just above a fragment 

 of the terminal moraine forming the "hook" which protects the 

 anchorage, there is a low wall of soft Jurassic rock rising sharply to 

 about 20 feet above the water, and from its edge the floor reaches back 

 to the bluff. This wall is somewhat higher than the marshy floor of 

 Advent Dale, 3 miles away at the head of the bay. It seems strange 

 that the ice did not remove this soft material. It is true that the 

 movement could not have been rapid, as the slope of the floor is very 

 gentle, and the place is less than a mile from the mouth of the bay 

 where this glacier joined the main stream; but, unless the ice were 

 heavily laden with debris, there should have been motion enough to 

 cut away this petty obstruction. 



There has been little erosion by water since the ice retreated, and 

 the waste has been due to changes of temperature, which are super- 

 ficial. The entry of the Spitzbergen Coal Company, about 200 feet 

 long at the time of the writer's visit, was still in frozen coal. Summer 

 heat thaws the ground to only a few inches, yet suffices to encourage 

 growth of humble flowering plants, and an accumulation of peat, 

 which makes tramping a matter of difficulty. 



In the later Tertiary the surface of Spitzbergen must have been 

 much nearer sea-level than now, to admit of the baseleveling which 

 bears no relation to the position of the tilted, faulted, and contorted 

 rocks, and which removed so much of the earlier Tertiary deposits. 

 Comparatively rapid elevation must have succeeded, during which 

 the deep valleys were digged out to be filled in later times by glaciers. 

 Soundings reported on the English Admiralty Chart indicate that at one 

 time the surface stood much higher than now. Possibly the later de- 

 pression may be related in some way to the disappearance of the ice. 



Northeast Land, a glaciated area of perhaps 20,000 square miles, 

 forms with some outlying small islands the northern portion of the 

 archipelago, and is separated at the southwest from West Spitzbergen 

 by Hinlopen Strait. Westward from Northeast Land and its islands, 

 the depth increases very slowly, the soundings showing 8-20 fathoms 

 at 10-20 miles from the land; but the course of the valley of Hinlopen 



