THE JURASSIC COAL OF SPITZENBERGEN 89 



bay, is v^eiy rich in volatile. The cause of the difference must 

 be sought in conditions existing during the accumulation of the 

 coaly matter, chief among which must be the length of ex- 

 posure to the influences bringing about continued combination 

 of carbon and hydrogen to pass off as marsh gas. 



The coal obtained for analysis is not " crop coal." On Ad- 

 vent bay it has not been exposed to variations in temperature 

 and moisture which are so efficient in causing deterioration of 

 coals in our latitude. It was frozen long ago, before the pres- 

 ent configuration of the valley was completed and it has re- 

 mained frozen ever since. The temperature in early August, at 

 no time rose above 39° F. The land surface is boggy in great 

 part and is covered in many places by lowly flowering plants, 

 but the summer thaw reaches to only a few inches below the 

 surface. There is not the alternation of freezing and thawing 

 so destructive to crop coal in our climate. The condition is 

 well shown in the Fangen mine where at 180 feet from the 

 crop and somewhat more below the top of the rock bench, ice 

 was found covering the rock in the heading. Yet the tempera- 

 ture outside had seldom fallen below^ freezing after the mine was 

 opened. In the original heading, now abandoned, ice was 

 reached along a fault line, fifty feet from the crop and it contin- 

 ued to the end of the heading. The explanation of the mois- 

 ture must be sought elsewhere. At the same time, it must not 

 be forgotten that the moisture in the Advent bay coals, though 

 three to four times as great as that usually found in the bitumi- 

 nous coals of Pennsylvania, is not higher than that of many 

 coals from Ohio, while it is much less than that in most of the 

 Iowa coals. The great majority of analyses from the last- 

 named State show upwards of six per cent, and not a few show 

 ten per cent, and upward — all of these being carboniferous. 



The reaction of the coal with caustic potash suggested other 

 comparisons. Mr. Norman A. Dubois, Instructor in Quanti- 

 tative analysis at New York University, very kindly analyzed 

 the coal from the lower bench with the following result : 



Moisture 4.14 



Carbon 67 . 88 



