The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-07-11
MAMsEM ON The POLE.
The Norwegian Explorer Talks Of Polar
Land and water.


Society was held last Monday at the
theatre, Burlington House. when Or.
Nansen, the Norwegian minister, de-
livered a lecture on North Polar Prob
lems.''
DR.. Nansen said that the deep North
Polar basin formed the northern ter
limitations of a series of depressions OF
the earth's crust extending north
through the Norwegian Sea from the
eastern side of the Atlantic. and divld-
ing between the continental masses Oh
the old and the new world. The erup-
ton of the Jurassic basalts of Franz
Josef Land and Spitzbergen might
had some connection with the sinking
IN of the North Polar Sea bottom,
but the basin was probably to a great
extent formed before that time. More
modern volcanic rocks were not hltn-
erto known from the edges of the North
Polar basin. Very little could be said
at present as to whether the continent
tai shelf north of Greenland, the
American Arctic archipelago and Alas
ka had a very wide extension or not
The rule that the continental shelves
were generally much narrower out
| side high and mountainous coast than
off fiat and low lands, held good only
where the mountain formations of the
| coast we're in near relation to h trend
| of the coast and to the continental
slope outside, and also where the noun
famous coast was built up by hard
primary rocks. This seemed hardly
to be the case on the northern coast
of the American Arctic archipelago and
Greenland, although there were rather
high promontories in some places. 1t
was. therefore, difficult to say much
| about the extent of the continental
| shelf there. 1t was perhaps more the
case along the north coast of Alaska.
| and therefore the continental shelf
might possibly be narrower In that re-
gion: but even this was uncertain.
The deeper soundings taken near the
supposed edge Of the shelf might sim
ply Indicate depths of submarine val
leys. which might be numerous in this
region; and ne was of the opinion that
many more and deeper soundings would
be required before they could speak
with anything like certainty. DR.. j.
| w. Spencer's conclusions as to the
width of the continental shelf drawn
from the great depths of the
| fjords of the American Arctic archipel-
| ago., were not we'll lOuidCo. OCAicAN
cradle depths of the submarine valleys
and channels did not point to a COM
paratively narrow shelf in regions
where there had been glacial erosion
| cf., the Norwegian channel, the Baltic,
the White Sea, the Kara Sea. 1t should
| also be considered that on the whole
the region Of the American Arctic arch
ipelago exhibited geomorphological fea-
lures which were very exceptional. n
region was probably near the near OF
the great North American ice age, in
a similar way as the region of the
Baltic and the White Sea was near the
heart of the great European ice age,
and the and had been split up into
islands and pe%ninsulas even to a greater
| extent than was the ease in the latter
region, whatever the original cause of
this dissection might lave been. 1t
| could not, therefore, be said that the
geomorphologic features of the known
part of the Arctic regions excluded the
possibility of a wide extension OF the
| continental shelf, possibly with lands
on it, into some parts of the unknown
north. The sea currents and the drift
of the ice seemed to indicate that there
was an extensive area of sea to the
north of the Fram's track. Peary's
experiences during his last expedition
also indicated hat there was much
sea to the north of Greenland. The
ice-drift converged towards the open
ling between Greenland and Spitzbergen.
Peary's observation of a rapid east
ward ice-drift also showed that there
could not have been much LAND to the
east of his northward track. But as
long as they did not know the depths
over which Peary travelled, 1t vas I'M
possible to say much with regard to the
possibility of land OF continental shelf
further north and east. DIR. Nansen
then observed that his conclusions with
regard to an actual current in the
surface-layers of the North Polar basin,
pointing toward Franz Josef Lam and
Spitzbergen, might seem to indicate
that there was land to the north, and
that consequently the North PolaI
basin was a comparatively long and
narrow depression. Owing to the earth's
rotation, they might expect a surface
current of this kind to be DETECTED
toward the coast on its r~ighthand side
namely, toward the Greenland and
American side. The occurrence OF
driftwood on the northern coasts, and
even on the floe-ice itself (north OF
! G~reenland), proved that this ice must
have drifted across the unknown sea
from Siberia or America. The great
quantity of 'post-glacial' driftwood
found at ever high elevations on the
now ice-bound coasts in the north
pointed to a milder period in post
glacial times with a more open Nortf
Polar sea. The legends of the Eskimo:
about land to the north could not bt
considered to prove anything of geo.
graphical value; similar stories of lane
far out in the sea were found amongsf
all people, and were very common II
folklore. DR.. Nansen alluded to meth
DDS of exploration. He considered tina
the drawback with sledge journey!
across the polar ice was that they die
not give much opportunity for sound
ings and oceanographical work; some
thing, however. could be done by s
practical equipment. In conclusion, h
spoke of the Importance of determin
ing the edge of the continental shell
and also of some observations Of thu
temperature and salinity of the deep
water strata of the deep sea beyont
this edge. A drift with a ship acros
the unknown North from the sea nortl
of Boring Strait or western Alaska, an
toward Greenland, would give most i'm
portant results, and could be don