688 MR. E. J. GAEAVOOD ON THE [NoV. 1 899, 



VII. ROCK-SCTJLPTUEING ABOYE THE SnOW-LINE. (PL XLYIII, fig. 1.) 



The snow-line in Spitsbergen is usually stated to reach sea-level. 

 This is perhaps true as regards North-east Land, which appears 

 to be covered by a continuous ice-sheet. In West Spitsbergen, 

 however, especially on the western coast and in the neighbourhood 

 of Ice Fjord, this is certainly not the case. The snow-line here 

 lies somewhere about 1200 to 1500 feet above sea-level, and usually 

 rises even higher by the end of August. The mountain-slopes along 

 the coast at Mount Starashchin, King's Bay, and elsewhere, and the 

 lower slopes of the valleys of the interior, namely, Sassendal and 

 Advent Yale, exhibit typical curves produced by the action of 

 running water. 



The character of the scenery above the snow-line presents a 

 marked contrast to these flowing curves. They are replaced by 

 angular contours and vertical precipices produced by the action of 

 frost alone. These wild and jagged outlines are perhaps most 

 noticeable in the cleaved and foliated Archaean and Hekla Hook 

 formations, a good example of the latter occurring in the range of 

 the Hornsunds Tinde in the south of the island (PL XL VIII, ng. 1). 



The rocks of the Carboniferous dolomite-series are carved into 

 pyramidal masses with vertical chimneys and horizontal ledges, 

 recalling the well-known Dolomites in the Austrian Tyrol, and 

 frequently presenting inaccessible faces. Many fine examples of 

 peaks of this type occur in the centre of King James's Land, where 

 the Three Crowns and their neighbouring summits have been carved 

 out of an horizontal plateau of Permo-Carboniferous strata which 

 once completely covered this district. The curved slopes of the 

 pedestals on which they stand are formed of copious screes from 

 frost-riven Devonian shales. On the upper plateaux that flank the 

 Sassendal and Advent Vale the same efl'ect of frost is conspicuous : 

 in this case, however, the horizontal bedding and unequal hardness 

 of the Triassic and Jurassic rocks have caused a series of terraces 

 to be produced. 



In speculating as to whether, in former times, the ice-sheets 

 attained a greater thickness than at present and submerged the 

 mountain -tops which now stand out as nunatakkr, it has been 

 suggested that this angularity of the peaks rising from the midst of 

 the ice demonstrates their continued freedom from any covering of 

 ice even during Glacial times. 



The more the district is studied, however, the more evident 

 becomes the fact that denudation is proceeding with a rapidity 

 difficult for those to realize who are only acquainted with weather- 

 ing in a temperate climate : and I do not think that any argument 

 can be drawn from the present angularity of the peaks above the 

 snow-line. It is only necessary to camp in the immediate proximity 

 of a nunatak like the Pretender in King James's Land, where 

 fragments are falling continuously, and rock-avalanches occur every 

 few hours ; or to note the size of the medial moraines draining these 

 rock-islands — to realize that a very few years would suffice to 

 remove entirely any surface-features which might have been 



