LAMPLUGH : SHELLY MORAINE OF THE SEFSTROM GLACIER. 
221 
its southern side the valleys are nearly or quite empty. Ice 
Fiord runs eastward into the land for about 60 miles, with a 
breadth varying between 5 and 15 miles, and with several deep 
arms or ' bays ' branching northw ard and southward from it, 
of which the northern are the longer (see Fig. 1). The tide-water 
glaciers of its northern bays include several that have particular 
interest for the glacialist, and of first importance among them is 
the Sef Strom (dacier of Ekman Bay. 
SEFSTROM GLACIER. 
Simply as a spectacle, the Sefstrom Glacier is most impressive, 
both in itself and in its splendid setting (PI. XXVL). Bold and 
shapely mountains, composed mainly of Carboniferous rocks, 
rise above it on either side — Mt. Colosseum (1,970 ft.) on the 
north ; Mt. Bertil (2,040 feet) on the south — while the wonder- 
ful front of Mt. Capitoleum (2,790 ft.) with its exquisite sculptur- 
ing towers up majestically on the opposite side of the narrow bay. 
The ice-cliffs of the glacier are constantl}^ breaking aw^ay with 
uproar and commotion into the sea, so that the ba}' is dotted 
with pale blue floes of fantastic shape that drift slowly outw^ard 
with the tide. Its front upon the sea is about 4J miles wide, and 
its seac-lifFs at their highest reach nearly 300 feet. 
As the result of recent studies, we know that several of the 
Spitsbergen glaciers — perhaps all — are subject to spasmodic 
fits of rapid and tumultuous advance, alternating with longer 
intervals of retreat and ablation during which they become 
relatively stagnant. Prof. De Geer has traced the history of 
such movements in several cases. ^ In describing them to us 
personally he suggested that the changes may be due to the in- 
adequacy of the annual snowfaU to maintain a constant flow in 
cases where the gradient of the glacier is gentle, so that the ac- 
cumulated load of several years may be required to overcome 
the rigidity of the ice ; but when the limit is overpassed, a phase 
of active movement is started, and may go on \4gorously until 
the extra load is w holly discharged and the stage of quiescence is 
again reached. 
I See " Guide de I'excursion," etc. (op. cit.), pp. 13-20, with large-scale ( siJiTrnr) ground-plans of 
Von Post, Nordenskiold, Sefstrom., Wahlenberg, and Goes Glaciers. 
