100 W. H. Hudleston — E. Margin of N. Atlantic Basin. 



Continental platform and the suboceanic slope varies as to degree of 

 submergence, being mostly on the 100-fathom contour in the British 

 seas, but nearer the 200-fathom contour off parts of the Norwegian 

 coast. 



Part I. — The North Polar Ocean, and the Norwegian Atlantic. 



Since the most important recent results in oceanography have been 

 obtained in the North Polar basin, it seems only proper to commence 

 our bathymetrical studies in the far north, and to work our way 

 southwards as far as the limits already indicated. The results 

 obtained by the " Fram " were so contrary to what was generally 

 expected, that it may be some time before their true import is fully 

 realized. They prove beyond doubt, however, that the Atlantic 

 depression, which we knew was continued into the Norwegian 

 Atlantic and thence through the ocean narrows between Greenland 

 and Spitzbergen, expands in the North Polar area, and in all 

 probability extends to the Pole itself on the meridian of Greenwich. 

 Nansen tells us that he had imagined the Polar basin, taken as 

 a whole, to be shallow, but he found the sea north of the New 

 Siberian Islands suddenly becoming deeper and sinking to a depth 

 of 1,800 to 2,000 fathoms, and that this depth was maintained during 

 the entire drift of the " Fram " as far as north of Spitzbergen. He 

 therefore takes it for granted that the Polar basin is a deep sea, 

 which forms a continuation northwards and eastwards of the same 

 depth as the Northern Atlantic Ocean ; he concludes that there is 

 little or no land on this side of the Pole, and this conclusion is based 

 on several considerations of great weight. 



According to old soundings taken long before the voyage of the 

 " Fram," a depth of 1,370 fathoms is recorded about 100 miles north 

 of Spitzbergen ; and this might have been accepted as an intimation 

 of what was to be expected further eastwards. We can believe that 

 the " Fram " crossed a suboceanic slope in about 79° N. lat, and that 

 this slope will be found to extend all along the northern margin of 

 the shallow platform which supports the Franz Josef Archipelago, 

 itself only an eastern extension of the Spitzbergen group.^ This 

 platform bears the same relation to the north of Europe that the 

 British platform does to the north-west of Europe. The chief 

 difference lies in the fact that the mouth of the Barents Sea, between 

 Bear Island and the North Cape, is deeper than the average edge of 

 the North Sea platform by about 170 fathoms, though the eastern 

 parts of the Barents Sea are shallow enough. 



A few of the details of the Norwegian Atlantic may next be 

 taken into consideration. The several parts of this have received 

 different names, but it may be regarded as practically one basin 

 in alignment with the North Atlantic Ocean. Tha major axis of 

 the principal deeps is for the most part meridional, and, indeed, 



1 Since Dr. Koettlitz records (Quart. Journ. Gaol. Soc, vol. liv, p. 644) a depth 

 of 230 fathoms thirty miles west of Cape Mary Harmsworth, it is possible that 

 a bight of the deep North Polar ocean may extend for some distance between the 

 Franz Josef Archipelago and Spitzbergen. 



