230 The American Geologist. '^p'"''- i^^s 
ward to a suboceanic plain submerged to 1042-1326 metres. 
From the col of this (Lightning) channel another valley 
extends northward to the basin of the Norwegian sea, sug- 
gesting a lower base level at 1262 metres. Between 
Faeroe and Iceland is the plateau at 400-500 metres. Be- 
tween Iceland and Greenland the ridge and plateau is not 
quite so deep, but it is cut by a channel of 958 metres rap- 
idly descending towards the north to 1560 metres far within 
the edge of the Greenland-Iceland continental shelf, (p. 84.) 
Ofif the west coast of Greenland, the remains of a 
continental shelf dissected by fjords is a pronounced feature 
of which a less complete study has been made in America.* 
The coast platform with its skerries are here repeated, but 
with inferior development to that in Norway. 
The continental shelves and submarine valleys of 
Europe and America are reviewed with full credit to the 
previous workers on the subject. In fact, the agreement 
between those of us"" who have done any considerable work 
on the subject, and therefore entitled to some opinion, 
seems to be complete in all essentials; but along with his. 
own researches Nansen has brought the whole subject to- 
gether, into a treatise which must be epoch-making. 
The "coast platform" of Dr. Nansen, which is that por- 
tion of the shelf bearing the skerries or low islands, has 
been principally formed l)y marine denudation, vigorously 
assisted by atmospheric erosion, as subsidence wag not 
always necessary, for there were various episodes of oscil- 
lations of land and sea. This coast platform has been cut 
subsequently to the excavation of the fjords. In this re- 
spect Nansen disagrees entirely with Reusch, Davis and 
• Vogt. He sees no reason for accepting their theory, and 
says: "On the contrary. I consider it inqiossible that a 
broad and very gently sloping coast platform can be 
formed on high coast which is not deeply dissected by 
fjords. If in general a broad plain of marine denudation 
actually Ix- formed on smooth, undissected coasts, which 
are slowl\- su))merged, as assumed by Richthoven, its slope 
*By the reviewer. 
■;- By far the most extensive contribmi(.ns have been i^iidf- by 
Proi. J-'dward >liill ar.d 1>\- the reviewer, .some of whicli only have been 
leferrecl to. 
