276 



the fjords and carry with them a considerable material of gravel 

 and clay, although in order to pass the fjord-sills they have first 

 to be somewhat reduced in size. But for all that, Bøggild' s 

 investigations, as well as earher observations taken by Bay^), 

 seem to show that this material does not, in the main, play 

 an especially great part among the sea-sediment, though this 

 may not hold good for all regions, and it is very hard to form 

 a conception of what the districts are where such ice-berg 

 sediments may be expected. So for instance it seems to me that 

 it by no means follows that when the sea ice in one district, 

 as in the "North Bay", is less compact, melting of icebergs 

 cannot take place there on a large scale. Again, Bøggild, 

 in my opinion, undervalues the carrying power of the shore-ice 

 (bay-ice). In the polar regions it is easy to observe that the 

 winter ice nearest the shore — at a distance of a hundred 

 metres and even more — is dark coloured, and covered with 

 a thick layer of fine dust as well as gravel and small stones 

 which have been carried out by wind and streams of thaw 

 water. Here no doubt is possible; though such ice, and especially 

 the pieces on which a coarse gravel is found, is extremely 

 rare out to sea and probably is mostly carried by the coast 

 currents along the shore and soon melts, yet during geological 

 periods it must in favourable places deposit considerable layers. 

 — We may add that it scarcely seems probable that the coast 

 between Gael Hamke Bay and Davy Sund consists of basalt to 

 the same extent as Bøggild' s map indicates; it is possible 

 that the sample of bottom-sediment from this region indicates 

 better than he assumes the corresponding rocks of the outer 

 coast-belt. 



It seems to follow from Bøggild' s investigations, as one 

 of the most important general results, that the sea-bottom off 

 this part of East-Greenland, over extensive tracts and up to a 



Meddelelser om Grønland, XIX, 186. Especially interesting is sample 

 no. 3 from 69° 4Г N. and 19° 20' W., in which only basalt occurs. 



A 



