96 /. G. ANDERSSON 



propose to name solifludion (derived from solum, "soil," and fluere, 

 ''to flow"). 



As the snowdrifts of Bear Island diminish in the course of the 

 summer, new ground is exposed, its waste is thawed, and then, 

 saturated with water, it follows the slow downward movement. 

 The flowing detritus does not generally move as a "sheet-flood" 

 with a broad front, but more often flows in some slight depression of 

 the slope, taking the form of a narrow tongue, offering a most striking 

 paraflel to a glacier. The neve region is represented by the area 

 of water-saturated detritus at the lower edge of the melting snow- 

 drift, and the flowing tongue of mud is the glacier proper that moves 

 down the valley. The terminal moraine even is often to be seen 

 in the shape of slabs and pieces of rock that the mud-stream has 

 pushed together in front of its lower end. 



These mud-streams do not consist of finer particles only, but 

 also of coarse material, gravel and blocks, frequently intermixed 

 with, and also carried on the top of the muddy substance. 



Small mud-glaciers of the type just described are very common 

 in Bear Island, and sometimes they reach noticeable dimensions. 

 On the slope of Oswald Hill I measured such a tongue of detritus 

 that had a breadth of 35 meters and a depth (thickness) of at least 

 2.1 meters. In this case "the terminal moraine" was represented 

 by a zone of sandstone plates, pushed together so that they were 

 all standing edgewise beautifully concentric to the rounded front 

 of the detritus tongue, and this piled-up zone had the rather start- 

 ling width of 17 meters! This example may give some idea of the 

 considerable quantity of detritus that can be removed in a single 

 stream, as well as of the energy which such a mud-glacier can 

 develop before its movement is arrested. 



My companion in the voyage to Bear Island, Dr. G. Swenander, 

 during his botanical researches made an observation that was highly 

 illustrative for a proper understanding of the extent and importance 

 of the solifluction. 



Bear Island looks very barren also when compared with more 

 northern Arctic islands, and its sterility is proved not only by the 

 small number of species of higher plants, but also by the complete 

 barrenness of large areas 



