PROF. NORDENSKIOLD, EXPEDITION TO GHEENLAND. 423 



we arrive at Noursak the basalt reaches the sea-level. Be- 

 yond that point the peninsula is entirely occupied by basalt-beds, 

 terminating in terraces, between which no sand-layers can be dis- 

 covered from the shore. But at a height of from 1,000 to 2,000 

 feet above the sea we find here, also, sedimentary formations of sand, 

 clay, coal, &g., but very thin, and therefore, for the most part, 

 concealed by basaltic detritus. 



Further inward, the shore of Omenakfjord is occupied exclu- 

 sively by basalt, extending beyond Niakornet ; but afterwards we 

 again meet with a formation similar to that of Atanekerdluk, 

 though of a widely different age, and resting, not upon basalt, but 

 upon gneiss. These strata belong to the Lower Cretaceous 

 series. Here the basalt strata no longer extend down to the water ; 

 and the beach pebbles farther inward are again of gneiss. But 

 the glaciers that extend downwards from the interior continually 

 carry with them blocks and columns of basalt, indicating that the 

 lofty inland mountains are composed of that rock ; and that 

 there also it is interstratified with Tertiary beds, is shown by 

 the plant-remains which lie, mixed with pieces of basalt, on the 

 surface of the Assakak glacier. 



Here also was found a specimen of wood inclosed in basalt j 

 but, with this exception, all the fossil plants have been found in 

 the coal-bearing sandstones and clay- beds which are associated 

 with the basalt in Greenland. I have no doubt that organic 

 remains will be found in the red basalt clay that lies between 

 the real basalt beds, though we had not time to look for them. 



The fossils in the sedimentary strata of the Trap-formation * in 

 Greenland consist exclusively of Plant-remains, and fragments of 

 two or three Insects and Freshwater Moll usca ; there are no traces 

 of Marine Mollusca nor vertebrate animals. 



An extensive continent occupied this portion of the globe at 

 the time when these strata were deposited ; and the abundance 

 of sandy strata, furthermore, seems to indicate that, during the 

 Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, this was a vast sandy desert [?], 

 varied only by oases of inconsiderable extent. At that time there 

 ivere no glaciers in these parts. For the sand-beds contain no 

 traces of any such erratic blocks or large boulders as always accom- 

 pany and characterise the glacial formations, and such as are met 

 with even in the loose clay-beds, of glacial origin, which, where a 

 subsequent denudation has taken place, cover the beds of basalt and 

 Tertiary sand. I ought however to mention that in places where 

 both the modern glacial formation and a part of the subjacent 

 Tertiary sand have been washed away, sections often occur, which, 

 on a cursory examination, seem to indicate that the Tertiary sand 

 contains a vast quantity of erratic granite and gneiss blocks. But 

 wherever time permitted us to make a careful investigation, or 



* I have preserved this name as used in Greenland as a common denomina- 

 tion for the Cretaceous formation, dolerite, diabase, basalt, the Tertiary strata 

 included in basalt, and the strata at Sinnifik and Puilasok, probably deposited 

 shortly after the cessation of the eruption of the basalt. 



