A PECULIAR FORMATION OF SHORE ICE 



135 



and by additions from the water of the lake, had grown to the diam- 

 eter of a milHmeter or two. The mass of ice had been broken along 

 several parallel lines and displaced, showing a thickness of 3-4 

 feet; and this showed that the beach ice was a mass of the snow- 

 balls cemented by snow and frozen spray. The beach at this point 

 runs slightly west of south, and the snowballs on the surface had 



Fig. I. — A group of large snowballs showing concentric arrangement of layers of 

 dirt and snow. 



been forced into prominence by the melting away of the softer 

 cementing snow between them; moreover, about one-third of each 

 ball was melted away on the south side. The southern faces which 

 had suffered by melting presented a most peculiar appearance, 

 which led to the recognition of the true nature of the balls. As 

 shown in the figures, the melting had caused the contained dirt 

 to accumulate on the surface, and it appeared as concentric rings. 

 Close examination showed that this dirt was true beach sand and 

 gravel. All the balls, varying in size from 3 inches to 3 or 4 feet, 

 showed the same concentric arrangement, but in some the layers 

 were alternately snow and clearer ice rather than snow and sand. 



