20 



clay. These characters are generally very difficult to account 

 for by the conditions of the locality where the deposits have 

 been formed, even though important conclusions on that point 

 may often be drawn, as will be seen below. 



With regard to the size of the various grains, it is of 

 course to be expected that the samples now under discussion 

 will belong to the more coarse-grained of those which have 

 been collected from the sea-floor. Both the coast erosion and 

 the ice-transport may supply a large quantity of clastic material, 

 whereto may still be added some derived from moraines or from 

 the solid rock at the bottom itself. A closer examination also 

 proves that the samples for the most part contain a very great 

 number of pebbly ingredients, such as will be found in greater 

 numbers scarcely anywhere, except in very shallow-water depo- 

 sits. In this connection, it is natural to draw a comparison 

 between these samples, and those from the Westcoast of Green- 

 land, which in many ways bear a great resemblance to them. 

 The transport-work of ice is however much less there, and 

 consequently the West Greenland deposits are a great deal finer 

 than those from East Greenland. The difference will be still 

 greater, if we compare the latter samples with those obtained 

 by the F ram from off the Northcoast of Siberia. Here there is 

 no glacier-ice, and the coast consists for the most part of rocks 

 such as sand and clay, which contain very few pebbles, con- 

 sequently these samples are very poor in that respect. 



There is however amongst the individual samples a much 

 greater variation in the quantity of fragmental matter than 

 might be expected. Even if the proportion of this is, on the 

 average, very large, we find here and there a few samples where 

 it is quite insignificant, or where no pebbles whatever are found. 

 Such fine-grained deposits are sometimes found so situated in 

 relation to the others, that it is impossible to tell the reason 

 for this difference, but sometimes the variations may very well 

 1)C due to the situation. 



