SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE WESTERN 



JOURNEY 



Section I 



GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL 



By RAYMOND E. PRIESTLEY, Geologist of the Expedition 



rpHE stratigraphy of that portion of the western moun- 

 ^ tains which forms the chfFs on either side of the 

 Ferrar Glacier has been well described by Mr. Ferrar in 

 his account of the geological work carried out by the 

 National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-3. In its broad out- 

 lines the sequence of rocks may be sketched as follows: 



(1) at the base lies a thick series of gneisses and schists; 



(2) a mass of granite with intrusive sills of dolerites lies 

 unconformably on the schistose series ; (3) this again is 

 capped unconformably by the series of sedimentary rocks 

 and interbedded volcanics to which Mr. Ferrar has given 

 the name of the Beacon sandstone. 



In the foothills on either side of the lower slopes of the 

 glacier a series of schists and gneisses, with occasional beds 

 of limestone, is exposed, and the most striking feature of 

 this series is the great variation in texture and mineral 

 composition of these metamorphic rocks. Further up the 

 valley of the glacier these are capped by great masses of 

 granite and porphyry, which are traversed by one sill of 

 dolerite and capped by another. 



The intrusive nature of these dolerites is abundantly 



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