GLACIATION OF THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 35 



superficial deposits of sand and loam. His extended observations and cautious 

 inferences have illuminated a dark chapter in the geology of the Carolinas. 



The following papers were read by title : 



THE ARKANSAS COAL MEASURES IN THEIR RELATION TO THE PACIFIC 



CARBONIFEROUS PROVINCE 



BY JAMES PEERIN SMITH 



GLACIATION OF THE 'WHITE MOUNTAINS, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



BY C. H. HITCHCOCK 



A recent visit to the White mountains has enabled me to complete the exam- 

 inations needed to affirm that glaciation has been complete over the Presidential 

 range of summits and cols. My earUer publications have related chiefly to Mount 

 Washington, the highest of all the summits ; for if the highest point has been 

 glaciated it is presumable that the lower portions have been affected in a similar 

 manner. Commencing at Mount Madison, the extreme northern elevation, and 

 proceeding west of south and south to Mount Webster, the range may be specified 

 as follows : Mount Madison, 5,380 feet ; * lowest point in the divide or col between 

 Madison and Adams, 4,912 feet; Mount Adams, 5,805 feet; col, 4,940 feet; Mount 

 Jefferson, 5,725 feet; col, 4,980 feet; Mount Clay, 5,640 feet; Mount Washington, 

 6,290 feet; Lakes of the Clouds, 5,060 feet; Mount Monroe, 5,390 feet; Mount 

 Franklin, 4,904 feet ; col between Mount Franklin and Mount Pleasant, 4,400 feet ; 

 Mount Pleasant, 4,764 feet ; Mount Clinton, 4,320 feet ; Mount Jackson, 4,100 feet ; 

 Mount Webster, 4,000 feet; White Mountain Notch, 1,914 feet. 



Above 5,000 feet the rocks have never been protected by vegetation, and conse- 

 quently a more intense and longer continued freezing action has prevailed ; hence 

 ledges that were once as firm as possible after the removal of the shattered and 

 decayed pieces have now been split into fragments. The glacialist everywhere 

 else finds little or no evidence of postglacial dismemberment of the ledges through 

 freezing, and has therefore been led to doubt the evidences that have been pre- 

 sented of the removal of the glaciated surfaces themselves. 



Tlie rock of the range is an easily splitting feldspathic mica-schist traversed by 

 occasional veins and bunches of white and rose quartz. No signs of striation are 

 visible upon the schists, though embossment of the ledges is frequently admirably 

 displayed. Two excellent examples of glaciated quartz occur in the cols on both 

 sides of Mount Adams, each about 5,000 feet high. In the most northern col the 

 surfoce of the white glaciated quartz is 10 by 25 feet and the direction of the striae 

 8. 33° E.f More than half of the surface shows the striation; over the rest the 

 lines have been obliterated, but the smoothing remains. By carefully examining 

 these two kinds of surfiice one is enabled to judge whether the smoothed loose 

 pieces of quartz found higher up indicate glaciation. Specimens of both these 

 smoothed surfaces have been compared and it is impossible to distinguish them 



* The heights are given above mean tide-water. 



t The courses of striae have been corrected for variation of the compass. 



