RESEARCHES IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, ETC. 



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is in all probability carried right round the whole of the great 

 polar basin from the coast of Norway, by Spitzbergen, Franz 

 Joseph Land, the New Siberian Islands, the coast of 

 Alaska, Prince Patrick and other Polar islands ; then off' Banks 

 Land, by the north coast of Greenland and onwards by Iceland 

 to the North Sea and the Scandinavian coast from which we 

 started. Oft this platform or continental girdle, which seldom 

 exceeds 600 feet in depth from the surface at its outer margin, 

 are planted all the groups of Arctic and sub- Arctic islands, 

 including Iceland, Spitzbergen, Franz Joseph, Nova Zemlia, 

 New Siberia, those between Be mfort Sea and Baffin's Bay, 

 and the British Islands themselves. The breadth of the 

 platform is greatest between Spitzbergen and the Scandinavian 

 coast, here inclosing the Barents sea ; and off' the coast of 

 Siberia the average breadth is about 500 miles. On the other 

 hand, off the const of Spitzbergen and apparently adjacent to 

 Franz Joseph Archipelago the shelf has a breadth of only about 

 30 miles ; and is a little over 60 to 100 miles off' the Archipelago 

 of the Greenland sea, as far as can be conjectured from the few 

 soundings available. But all the soundings made by Nansen 

 and previous explorers go to show, that on reaching the outer 

 margin of the shelf, the land descends rapidly to depths of 

 about 6,000 to 7,000 feet and more. As is well known, 

 Nansen's Farthest North was reached on the 7th April, 1895, in 

 lat. 86° 13' 6" where the depth of the ocean reaches 3,000 

 metres (9,780 feet) a depth which may be presumed to extend 

 to the pole itself ; — much too near to allow of the uprise of 

 land of 10,000 feet in height within so short a distance. 



On this subject we have an interesting statement from 

 Professor Spencer, in which he says, " I was in northern 

 Norway when the Ziegler expedition sailed, and hearing of 

 their expectation of finding polar land, I felt that disappoint- 

 ment was in store for them ; for Dr. Nansen's great discovery 

 of a profound Arctic basin, immediately beyond the border of 

 the continental shelf, precluded the probability of finding land 

 between Franz Joseph land and the pole, or indeed along this 

 line for a thousand miles beyond." The members of" this 

 expedition were doubtless unacquainted with the physical 

 conditions of the Arctic region as now brought to light by the 

 restoration of the old marginal land indicated by" the con- 

 tinental platform and its deep basin adjoining. 



It now only remains to observe that these Arctic sub-oceanic 

 features resemble those of the coasts of Europe and America 

 in being intersected by the channels of former rivers crossing 



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