86 



periods, this would form enormous deposits, provided the other 

 factors Avhich contributed to their formation worked on a still 

 smaller scale. 



The material conveyed by ice is, as far as has been 

 observed, of somewhat different kinds. The sheet-ice, which 

 forms by far the greater part of the whole ice-mass, transports 

 almost exclusively the finest ingredients, while the icebergs and 

 the coast-ice must certainly be able to convey some rock-frag- 

 ments, although according to Bay, such material is very 

 insignificant in amount in the water north of Scoresby 

 Sund. The comparatively few expeditions which have pene- 

 trated into these parts are however insufficient for the purpose 

 of determining anything with certainty in this respect. In 

 other parts of Greenland, icebergs have frequently been ob- 

 served to be quite laden with rocks and gravel, and some such 

 may very well exist in these parts, though they have not been 

 observed. 



It is impossible to tell how a deposit formed exclu- 

 sively by ice would appear in these parts, as long as we do 

 not know anything about the ratio between the amounts of 

 the pebbly and clayey material conveyed. Nor does an exa- 

 mination of the samples furnish us with a definite answer to 

 this question , as not a single sample is found in which we 

 can suppose that the material deposited by the ice forms the 

 chief mass. There may possibly be some difference between 

 the different localities owing to the fact that in a few places is 

 a comparatively large number of icebergs found, while in other 

 places they are perhaps rarely found ; but on the whole the 

 material deposited by the ice must be rather homogeneous. 

 Especially may we be justified in concluding that if we have 

 two adjacent deposits whereof one is exceedingly fine while 

 the other contains large amounts of pebbly ingredients, then 

 a great part of these deposits cannot have been formed by ice. 



