85 



tion of the curves for each individual sample can any con- 

 chisions be drawn. 



The case will be somewhat altered if we take the mine- 

 ralogical nature of the ingredients of the sample into consider- 

 ation also. Here, more specially with regard to the deposits lying 

 nearest land, we can draw fairly certain conclusions as to the 

 nature of the material transported direct from land. That is 

 to say it must be rather closely related to the rocks of the 

 country inland , whereas ingredients transported in other ways 

 have as a rule a very mixed constitution. 



Speaking generally it is most probable that, in the case 

 of deposits nearest land (inside of 20 — 30 kilom.) the greater 

 part of the sandy and part of the clayey ingredients have ori- 

 ginated direct from land. In the case of more distant deposits 

 however. I he portion which has been transported by the cur- 

 rents will always be less the farther we get from land, and will 

 only consist of the finest ingredients. 



2) In order to realise the value of the second of the above- 

 mentioned factors viz. the deposition of material at the bottom 

 of the sea by the ice, the samples of this expedition olïer facts 

 of considerable interest. We should have expected that a very 

 large number of the deposits were formed in this way, but 

 the more the samples are examined in detail, the more is it 

 proved that the influence of ice must on the whole be some- 

 what slight. 



The question as to how great a quantity of material was 

 transported by ice to East-Greenland, has been discussed already 

 by jNordenskiOld , Eber I in and Bay, and I shall not enter 

 liirlher into this matter here as no further observations for 

 the elucidation ot this question have been made. I shall there- 

 fore only discuss the part played by ice-borne material in the 

 formation of the deposits. Even if ever so little material may 

 be observed on the icebergs, yet, in the course of very long 



