BROWN ON NOURSOAK PENINSULA, &;C. 477 



In the shale, and in the sandstone where it joins the shale, faint 

 and imperfect impressions of plants appeared. Probably bed 

 No. 5 is No. 1 of the former section ; but it is obscured by debris 

 and pieces of trap fallen from the dyke " A," which here extends 

 right across the strata. It becomes fully exposed further on, to a 

 thickness of 6 feet, and is inters tratified with sandstone and shale, 

 and succeeded by 16 inches shaly lignite, with faint impressions. 

 This is topped by 8 inches of white sandstone, succeeded by 3 J feet 

 of grey and black shales ; 4 feet of white soft sandstone, inter- 

 stratified at the top with 2 inches of sandstone and shale ; and 

 finally by black shales, here dwindling away to 6 feet, though 

 doubtless, from their position and dip, one of the thick beds ex- 

 posed up the ravine. The bottom of this is a kind of coal, united 

 with the sandstone beneath by 2 inches of shale. A mile and a 

 half (English) further along the beach the trap dyke comes down 

 perpendicularly through the strata, and sends a transverse vein at 

 61° between the sandstone and the shaly sandstone. North of 

 this, another perpendicular vein was previously met with, coming 

 down from dyke " A " in the same direction (S.E), but not so well 

 marked. The strata are slightly tilted at the line where the dyke 

 spur cuts through them ; on the nortlien side the dip being 47° S., 

 and on the other side 61°, dipping slightly northward. The strike 

 of all the strata is, however, the same (N.E.Mag.). The white 

 sandstone resumes its former dip on the other side, and there does 

 not seem to be deflected by the dyke. This gritty sandstone does 

 not seem to have been much metamorphosed, though doubly in 

 contact with the trap. In some places the trap seems to take the 

 character of the sandstone, being soft, crystalline, and easily 

 broken Avith the hand. On the other hand, the grit in contact 

 with the trap does not always seem to differ from that in the nor- 

 mal state, but in most cases to have been melted by the heat, a 

 thin glaze being formed on the surface. 



The section extends to about 1,180 feet (by aneroid), and is con- 

 tinued nearly uniformly N. and S. ; though on the surface facing the 

 sea the strata were denuded in many places. In some other places, 

 northward in the cliffs with greater height, a similar section, with 

 a similar uniformity and alternation, could be traced, probably even 

 to 1,200 feet.* 



2. Ouiarasuksumitok. Lat. 69° 51' 2" N., Long. 52° 19' 6" W. 

 (Nordenskjold.) — In the cliff at the water-edge, the section exhi- 

 bited sandstone, a small seam of shale, and 2 feet of poor lignite, 

 the whole resting on trap. Ouiarasuksumitok means the place 

 where the coal is mined out, and was chiefly built for the con- 

 venience of the coal-mines at Ounartok. It is also called Ujarar- 



* From the examination of some fossils from the lower strata at Atanekerd- 

 luk, Dr. Heer is of opinion that probably they belong to the Upper Cretaceous. 

 The fossils on which he founds this opinion are Cycadites Dicksoni, the 

 frequent Ferns, a Sequoia allied to S. Ileichenhacltii, and a Credneria. For 

 further descriptions of Atauekerdluk, see also Nordeiiskj old's Memoir (above, 

 p. 432), Heer's " Les Regiones polaires du Nord " (" Bibl. Univ.," Jan. 

 18G7, p. 51), and his great work already mentioned. 



