SCIENTIFIC RESULTS 



material; the snow for several miles to the north of the 

 moraines being full of grit, which is so abundant that, as 

 I have observed in my diary, it accelerates considerably 

 the melting of the drift-snow and surface of the ice. 



There is a much greater proportion of pebbles and 

 larger boulders in the upper layers of the morainic material 

 than in the lower, as seen in section in the northern cliff 

 exposures. This phenomenon, I think, is partially ex- 

 plained by the fact that the finer material would gradually 

 be carried down by the thaw-water and used to increase 

 the compactness of the lower layers at the expense of the 

 upper ones ; but in addition I am inclined to believe that 

 when the glacier which borders the moraines was actually 

 providing an outlet for the ice accumulating on the moun- 

 tains above it, it brought down its quota of morainic 

 material from the local sources, which local material 

 would reach the moraines rather in the condition of large 

 fragments than as the finely divided debris which is essen- 

 tially the result of the prolonged trituration for which a 

 long journey is necessary. This latter explanation finds 

 support in the abundance of local erratics on that portion 

 of the moraines nearest the shore, erratics which are 

 identical with the different great formations which crop 

 out in the sides of the glacier valleys furrowing the 

 western mountains. As for the material which makes up 

 the main mass of the moraines, a great proportion of it 

 must have come across the Sound, because while there is 

 no evidence of any other great outburst of kenytic 

 material besides that of Mount Erebus, large quantities of 

 kenyte and kenytic fragmental rocks were picked up by 

 my companions and myself during our short stay here. 



With regard to the distribution of the local erratics, I 

 will quote a note from my diary of January 6, 1909, 

 when I observed that: " The southernmost portion of the 

 moraines is almost entirely composed of angular basaltic 



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