Prof. Nordensliiold — Expedition to Greenland. 423 



basalt is destroyed, layers of basalt sand constantly collect on the 

 shores — beds which, in the course of thousands of years, may, under 

 favourable circumstances, harden to a rock not distinguishable from 

 real basalt, unless perhaps it be by the circumstance, that as these 

 beds are deposited in the sea, they may possibly contain marine 

 fossils, which the tuffs of pure basalt formations do not. Such a 

 hardened fossiliferous basalt sand occurs at Pattorfik, in Omenak- 

 fjord and between that place and Sarfarfik. This stratum, which 

 has already been described, is, however, evidently far more recent 

 than the newest beds of the real basalt. 



Young as the colonies in these parts as yet are, tradition can 

 nevertheless adduce sundry examples of the rapidity with which 

 basalt rocks are destroyed. It is difficult to induce a Greenlander to 

 penetrate by boat into the inner parts of the three fjords which cut 

 into the west coast of Disko Island, The reason of this is said to 

 be, that on one occasion a whole house with all its inhabitants was 

 crushed by a sudden fall of a basalt rock. At Godhavn, on the brow 

 of the basalt mountain, there were formerly twelve huge projecting 

 elevations, called the twelve apostles. Of these there is now but 

 one remaining. 



In the immediate neighbourhood of Godhavn the basalt either 

 extends completely down to the sea or lies immediately upon the 

 gneiss formation, which there occupies the strand-cliffs. On row- 

 ing from this point further to the east, as soon as one is past 

 Skarffjallet,^ sand or sandstone beds are found nearest the shore, in- 

 creasing in thickness as one approaches the Waigat, so that at 

 Flakkerhook and Isungoak they form mountains of 1500 to 2000 

 feet high, frequently crowned with a perpendicular basalt diadem. 

 The same formation is met with on the other side of the Waigat 

 at Atanekerdluk. Further north-west in the strait, however, 

 the conformably stratified sand and basalt beds sink again, so that 

 before one arrives at Noursak the basalt reaches the sea-level. 

 Beyond that point the peninsula is entirely occupied by basalt-beds, 

 terminating in terraces, between which no sand-layers can be dis- 

 covered from the shore. But at a height of from 1000 to 2000 feet 

 above the sea we find here, also, purely sedimentary formations of 

 sand, clay, coal, etc., but very thin, and therefore, for the most part, 

 concealed by basalt detritus. 



Further inward, the shore of Omenakfjord is occupied exclusively 

 by basalt, extending beyond Niakornet; but afterwards we again 

 meet with a formation similar to that of Atanekerdluk, though of a 

 widely different age, and resting, not upon basalt, but upon gneiss. 

 These layers belong to the lower Cretaceous. Here the basalt strata 

 no longer extend down to the water, and the shore pebbles farther 

 inward are again of gneiss. But the glaciers that extend downwards 

 from the interior continually carry with them basalt blocks and 

 basalt columns, indicating that the lofty inland mountains are still 



1 Some of these beds (at Puilasok and Sinnifik) nearest Godhavn are however more 

 recent than the basalt formation, i.e. stratified beUveen, not under, the rock of the basalt 

 formation. 



