Prof. A. E Norde7isklbld — Geology of Spitzbergen, 263 



coal and especially in tlie lignite. The fossils are extraordinarily fine, and are found 

 chiefly in the neighbourhood of the coal and lignite beds, less beautiful in the 

 sandstone, which instead is crossed throughout by root fibres converted into coal. 

 On the boundary with 9 there is a coal-seam of 0-1 metre thickness. 40 m. 



9. A pretty hard sandstone, without fossils, and divided from the next stratum 

 by a coal-seam half an inch thick. 2 metres. 



10. Hard sandstone, inclosing rounded pieces of coal ^ containing reiinite. "Without 

 plant impressions.^ 6 m. 



11. Clay, or exceedingly loose slate, containing impressions of Taxodium, etc., 

 which, however, in consequence of the loose condition of the stratum, could not be 

 removed. 10 m. 



12. Hard sandstone, containing rounded pieces of coal with retinite. 6 m. 



13. Thick beds of sandstone and clay, with inconsiderable plant impressions. 

 These strata are continued with repeated alternations as far as the 



neighbourhood of Scott's Glacier. The steeply-sloped shore-terrace 

 is, however, here often covered with snow or gravel, so that I could 

 not with certainty make out whether we have here to deal with a 

 continuation of the strata, or only with the same strata contorted. 



A section at right angles to the shore at Cape Lyell approximates 

 to the following (see Fig. 18) : 



Fig. 18. — Cross-section of the Shore-terrace at Cape Lyell. 

 A. Moraine. JB. Glacier. C. The Sea. B. Miocene Strata. 



The summit of the rocks along the shore is formed of an exten- 

 sive moraine, which gradually passes into a glacier made nearlj^ 

 quite black by earth. The latter is possibly advancing, and in that 

 case, perhaps, the fossiliferous strata, the interesting evidence of the 

 climate prevailing in the jDolar regions in remote ages, will be com- 

 pletely concealed by the ice. 



7. Scott's Glacier. — Farther inwards the shore of Kecherche Bay 

 is occupied by a thick glacier, which slopes steeply towards the 

 sea, and is intersected by innumerable glacier-streams. One of these 

 falls into the sea north of the glacier, and flows, before it reaches 

 the sea, between the loose Tertiary strata, of which the low land con- 

 sists. In the bank of the stream thus formed there is, about two 

 hundred feet from the shore, a mass of fossil plants, which, however, 

 are not so fine as the fossils at Cape Lyell. The strata themselves 

 are besides covered by ice, clay and gravel, so that no continuous 

 profile can be obtained. A slight advance of the glacier would also 

 at this place be sufficient com])letely to conceal the locality with a 

 covering of ice. 



^ This occurrence of rounded pieces of coal, containing retinite, and probably 

 formed dming the Cretaceous period, is an interesting evidence of the immense 

 extent of time which must have passed since the coal-seams began to be formed in 

 Spitzbergen. I discovered a similar stratum during the Expedition of 1858, though 

 I then viewed it as post-Miocene, on account of th- pieces of coal containing 

 retinite inclosed in the sandstone, which I then believed to be Miocene. 



