THE WORK OF GLACIERS 



169 



strip of land along the coast, generally from 5 to 25 miles wide (Fig. 

 152). The great snow desert of the interior is devoid of life, with the 

 exception of lowly forms, 

 such as the microscopic red 

 plants (Sphcerilla nivalis) 

 which sometimes exist in 

 such abundance as to give 

 a red color to the snow and 

 produce the " red snow " of 

 both mountain and conti- 

 nental glaciers. 



All Greenland explorers 

 give nearly identical de- 

 scriptions of the interior. 

 Near the coast the ice sheet 

 rises with comparative ab- 

 ruptness, being steeper on 

 the east than on the west 

 coast, while the central por- 

 tion is nearly flat (Fig. 153). 

 The gradient of the surface, 

 as a whole, gradually de- 

 creases as the interior is 

 approached, and "the mass 

 thus presents the form of 

 a shield with a surface cor- 

 rugated by gentle, almost 

 imperceptible undulations, 

 lying more or less north 

 and south/' (Nansen.) The highest recorded point in the interior is 

 about 9000 feet above the sea, although it is possible that unexplored 

 portions may reach an altitude of 10,000 feet. A hundred miles from 



Fig. 152. 



Map of Greenland, showing a con- 

 tinental ice sheet. 



Fig. 153. — A section across Greenland, showing the profile of the ice and the prob- 

 able configuration of the land. 



the coast no depressions or elevations in the ice mark the presence of 

 valleys or mountain ranges beneath ; but within 50 or 70 miles of 



