Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1923-08-31
TO TEST MENACE
OF new ICE ACE
Macmillan Expedition viii Study
Recent Movements of Gla-
Ciers in Greenland.

New York.--Is another Ice age
coming? Are the scenes of the latter
Ple!stocene age-the geologic period
which Immediately preceded our own
to be repeated And, If so, what
will 1t mean to the inhabitants Of the
earth?
In an effort to determine whether
there is any likelihood Of such a cata-
clysmic occurrence the Macmillan ex-
petition recently left for Greenland
to study the recent movements Of gln-
ciers on that island continent. The
great Ice age ended, according to
scientists, about $4,000 years ago, but
the Ice has left Its footprints, by
which Its advances and retreats and
movements may be traced.
During the Ice age, or the Glacial
period, there was marked lowering
Of temperature over the whole earth,
and 100000 or 100000 square
miles Of the globes surface became
entirely covered with ice. Half the
region thus covered lay in North
America; more than half the remain
der lay in Europe. But far away,
even to the tropical forests of India
and the mountains of Asia, glaciation
occurred where there had been no ice
previous to the Ice age. On noun
tains which now bear burdens of con-
tinual snow and ice the snow line de-
scended 5000 feet lower than 1t Is at
present.
Human Beings Succumbed.
Imagine great sheets Of ice and
hard-packed snow creeping ever so
slowly but surely over the temperate
areas of Europe and America, and
inparting to them an Arctic cold to
which many of those early human be-
ings, who in their savagery were little
better than beasts, succumbed These
mighty layers of Ice, miles and miles
in thickness spread over rivers and
mountains and plains, filling up the val
leys and the lakes and the seas. In
Europe the Ice moved forth from the
Scandinavian highlands and buried
the lowlands of Belgium, Russia, Den
mark, Germany and Holland; and
then, crossing the North sea, touched
the shores of Britain. Besides these
dividual glaciers formed in the val
leys of the Alps and spread out in all
directions. Separate glaciers Joined
on the plains of France and Italy and
in the Rhine and Danube valleys.
Four times the enormous sheets Of
ice advanced and covered the land.
-Four times they retreated after I'M
counted centuries, each time leaving
a terminal moraine of boulders. earth
and other debris which serves as an
Indication of the route of the ice on
It's advance southwark. The second OF
these four glacial advances brought
the Ice farther south. In North Amer
lea the terminal moralne of the Ice
can still be observed, and followed, In
roughly correct line, over Long
Island through the town Of Jamaica
as far south as Perth Amboy, N. j
The line then runs in northwesterly
direction through point where the
town of Morristown is now located
The smooth, low plains Of the upper
Mississippi valley were covered with
Ice, while the Ohio and Missouri rivers
owe their beginning to the glacial ad
vances Of the Ice age.
Leaves Its Mark.
Not only by the terminal moraines
which Indicate the extent of the yari
Gus Ice advances, can the route of gla
citation be read. The passage of ict
over the hard, rocky floor of the eartl
leaves peculiar kind of marking
This erosion, due to the work of gla
ciers and Ice sheets, Is of smooth
rounded nature impaired to the rock.
which contrasts decidedly with tht
pinnacled, irregular surfaces which
are the work of ordinary weathering
The whole of the enormous islant
Of Greenland Is covered with an ic'
cap or Ice sheet which, pressing dowl
under the weight Of accumulated snow
of centuries, imparss gradual move
ment to the various glaciers along it
edges.
There Is great doubt in the minds
of many scientists as to what the find
ings of the Macmillan expeditions ex
animation will Indicate