GREENLAND 



207 



It is surprising what relations a few measurements reveal in this re- 

 gion. Suppose Grant Land to have been situated formerly close north of 

 Peary Land/ from which it was then separated only by the rift valley. 

 Its position in this relation is sketched in a broken line in figure 4, and 

 shows the east coast of the two regions to form a nearly north-and-south 

 line. If a straight line x4.A be drawn along the axis of the rift from a 

 point close off the extreme eastern end of Grant Land to another point 

 similarly related to the extreme eastern end of Grand Land in its assumed 

 former position, the length of that line is about 330 miles. It is notice- 

 able that the rift valley curves slightly to the south as it runs along the 

 northwest coast of Greenland, and 

 perhaps eastern Grant Land should 

 have been placed a little closer to 

 Peary Land. But if the lines BB, 

 CC, DD, EE, FF, and GG be 

 drawn nearly parallel to AA, it 

 will be found that some of them, 

 especially DD and FF, connecting 

 tlie- opposite shores of Baffin Bay, 

 are of the same length as A A, and 

 tJiat EE and GG are suggestively 

 near the same length. It is cer- 

 tainly significant that the distance 

 across Baffin Bay on lines parallel 

 to KK are so nearly of the same 

 length. Baffin Land, therefore, 

 appears to have been pulled awav 

 from Greenland in the same direc- 

 tion as Grant Land, and, what is 

 more significant, it appears to have 

 moved the same distance. If this 

 be true, then we may l^elieve that the bays or inlets marked on opposite 

 sides of the rift valley at the ends of the lines BB and CO were offset by 

 the movement and were formerly exact opposites. Too much importance 

 ought not to be attached to tliese two lines now, but it is not impossible 

 that the correspondence of those features may some day l)e proved by 

 geological investigations. 



Up to this point some doubt might be entertained as to the supposed 

 value of these relations and measurements. But one further fact of a 

 strongly corroborative character remains to be mentioned. Although 

 Grant Land and Baffin Land moved over 300 miles to the southwest, 



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Figure 5. — Diagram of Greenland Rifts 



Shows offsetting rift on northwest side of 

 Greenland, open rifts of two widths on the 

 west side, and several smaller subsidiary 

 rifts farther west. The arrows show the 

 direction of crustal movement, Greenland 

 remaining stationary. 



