287 



tograph taken on Hasenberg, gives us a fairly good view of 

 tliis landscape. 



That the whole stretch of the coast is rather cut about 

 and rich in islands, may be attributed to the great variety of 

 rock, rather than to any peculiar qualities in the basalt. 



We now pass on to the S. area, which is particularly 

 interesting and typical; here too, I have had a far better op- 

 portunity of closely examining its coast-line. We have here, 

 as far as we know, the largest and most uniform basalt area 

 in Greenland — the area can be calculated to more than 

 40,000 km^ or somewhat less than the half of Iceland — and 

 it therefore offers a good opportunity for the study of the topo- 

 graphic phenomena of a glaciated region of comparatively recent 

 and uniform rocks. No other rocks than basalt were known, prior 

 to our visit, to exist here; the Danish Expedition certainly 

 came across small intervening layers and enclosed fragments 

 of Tertiary sediments in several places, but wilh the exception 

 of the occurrence at C. Dalton, which is not very extensive 

 either, they do not affect the topography. 



A fine view over this area is obtained from the N. side of 

 Scoresby Sund. (Cf. the description and drawings of Scoresby's, 

 and fig. 12 from Ditlev sen' s sketch, also plate V in Ryder's 

 work). As appears from the [map. this transversal coast is very 

 uniform, without indentations or islands. The mountains form 

 a fairly connected wall, wilh very few deep valleys, and those 

 filled with ice. The shape of the mountains is the one charac- 

 teristic of basalt rocks, i. е., wilh pyramid shaped peaks and 

 fine stratification, especially prominent when snow covers the 

 otherwise scarcely noticeable terraces. The peaks are often 

 extended into ridges, but extensive plateaus rarely occur here 

 on the coast border. The valleys that divide the ridges are 

 certainly not typical corries, but are evidently due to ice erosion. 

 On a small scale we lind, as often in basalt mountains, a very 

 sharp splitting up into small summits and pinnacles. 



