TABLE IV 

 Distance from Longyear City 



To: Distance {nautical miles) 



Kola Gulf, White Sea 760 



Archangel, U. S. S. R 930 



Dickson Island, Mouth of the Yenisei 930 



Eyja Fiord, Iceland 930 



Reykjavik, Iceland 1 , 100 



Oslo, Norway 1,100 



Helsinki, Finland 1,100 



Bear Island 230 



Jan Maven Island 570 



Murmansk, U. S. S. R 625 



Leningrad, U. S. S. R 1,125 



Stockholm, Sweden 1 ,136 



Cape Farewell, Greenland 1,567 



London, England 1,640 



Montreal, Canada 2,745 



Boston, Massachusetts 2,880 



Seattle, Washington...„ 3,095 



TOPOGRAPHY 



The coastal areas are a series of narrow crested mountains sepa- 

 rated by fiords in which glaciers reach down to the sea. A notable 

 feature of the coasts is the level plain and foreland area which lies 

 between 70 and 100 feet above the sea. The mountains are not 

 high, the highest being Hornsundtind of less than 5,000 feet. The 

 interior plateaus rarely exceed 2,000 feet. The contrast between 

 the western coastal mountains and the interior plateau is due to 

 the geology. The west is a zone of folded rock whereas the interior 

 is mainly horizontal strata. The slopes of the mountains and the 

 massive tablelike land forms are covered with broken rock. The 

 plateau is covered with ice and snow under which is a mantle of 

 rock debris. 



Within recent geologic time volcanic action has taken place. 

 Thick diabase dikes and intrusions, and lava fields are found. In 

 the northwest, along a prominent fault line, volcanic cones and hot 

 springs occur. 



ICE CONDITIONS 



Alpine glaciers are numerous in the valleys of the western moun- 

 tains. The tongues coalesce in many places to form fairly exten- 

 sive ice fields. The glaciers are small and too low to create many 

 icebergs. The interior is partially ice-covered, the ice being 

 thicker and more continuous in the northeast sections. 



Spitsbergen is underlain by permanently frozen ground and the 

 surface is characterized by frost-broken rocks, polygonal soil, and 



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