AND CIRQUES IN NORWAY AND GREENLAND. 103 



eight between north-east and south-east, one looks to south-east, 

 and not one to south. Similarly, around the Justedalsbneen, out of 

 forty-one cirques, twenty-five look to north, four to west, eleven to 

 east, one to south-east, none to south. 



I do not, indeed, say that no cirques in Norway look to south ; 

 but they are very rare on the south sides of the mountains as com- 

 pared with the north. When a valley runs from east to west, 

 cirques very often occur on the side which faces the north, while 

 on the other there are none. Many examples of this might be found 

 in districts of Norway where cirques abound. 



In Greenland it is hard to say whether the cirques upon the 

 whole are chiefly found upon the north sides of the mountains, for 

 that country has been but little explored or mapped ; still, if we 

 look at the configuration of the land on the south side of Umanak 

 Fjord, we see from the mountain of Kelertinguak and to the north- 

 east a row of cirques which, as far as observed, are not to be seen 

 on the north side of the fjord. The configuration of most of the 

 highest mountains in Norway is due to cirques ; for their summits 

 are often only the highest point of the crest which surrounds a 

 cirque. The same coufiguration is observed in the high mountains 

 of Greenland. Glittretind may be taken as an example in Norway, 

 Kelertinguak in Greenland. 



How are these remarkable semicylindrica] recesses formed? In 

 the papers of Mr. Bonney and Professor Gastaldi we find two theories 

 advanced. Mr. Bonney thinks the Alpine cirques have been formed 

 by streamlets pouring down along the cirques, and gives an example 

 of six or seven streamlets having worked out a recess only a few 

 yards broad, yet with the form of a typical cirque. Along the fjord- 

 sides of Norway, where rivers precipitate themselves from the 

 mountain-wall, recesses of a form resembling that of the cirques 

 are very often seen ; but the large typical cirques are scarcely pro- 

 duced in this manner ; for, putting aside the fact that the part of 

 the crest surrounding the cirque and sloping to the latter is only 

 some metres broad, so that it cannot feed even a very small stream, 

 there is in many cirques, as above mentioned, a lake, which cannot 

 be formed by these streams ; for neither still water nor the running 

 water of streams can erode lakes, and those in the cirques are evi- 

 dently formed in the same manner as the cirques themselves. 



Professor Gastaldi does not doubt that the cirques were formerly 

 occupied by glaciers, and that glaciers are able to scoop out deep 

 beds in soft rocks in high Alpine regions. From the above obser- 

 vations we can get a hint of the mode in which cirques are formed. 

 We see, first, that on the whole they are not dependent upon the 

 nature of the rocks ; for they are found in granite, gabbro, gneiss, 

 metamorphic schist, quartzose slates — in limestone and gypsum in 

 the Alps, in basalt as well as in the rocks of the Azoic formation 

 in Greenland. It is needless to remark that the above excludes the 

 idea of cirques being old craters. 



We have already pointed out their connexion with glaciers past 

 Q. J. G. S. No. 129. m 



