British Antarctic Expedition 1907 9

Author : T. W. Edgeworth David
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332309566
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (95 download)

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Download or read book British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-9, Vol. 1 written by T. W. Edgeworth David and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-05 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-9, Vol. 1: Under the Command of E. H. Shackleton, C. V. O., Reports on the Scientific Investigations; Geology, Glaciology, Physiography, Stratigraphy, and Tectonic Geology, of South Victoria Land A distinguished Norwegian geologist has remarked: While we know fairly well the effect of running water from glaciated lands with a wet climate, we practically do not know anything of the way in which a continuous ice covering pure and simple may sculpture a land. Herein lies one of the many charms of that great white continent so vast that even where narrowest it would stretch from Calais to the Caspian - viz. that its ice covering, except for the Antarctic Horst in the Ross Sea region, is nearly continuous. One might, therefore, imagine that in Antarctica Reusch's ideal is at present realised; and so it is, but to a comparatively limited extent. Man has arrived in Antarctica too late, just as civilised man has been in Europe too late, has gone to North America too late, and still goes to Greenland and Spitsbergen too late, to observe anything like the full effect of a continuous ice covering in sculpturing land. Probably everywhere to-day the ice-fields of the world are on the wane, in spite of what appear to be exceptions in the case of local advancing glaciers. De Geer has suggested that ice does not necessarily flow evenly and steadily, as water does, but is subject probably to intermittent outrushes followed by short epochs of retreat. These outrushes may be due to prolonged accumulation of inland ice setting up a critical pressure ultimately sufficient to overcome frictional resistance and resistance to shearing. The ice then moves away rapidly towards lower levels, and in polar regions thrusts itself into the sea, and across the sea-floor, until its seaward edge floats and breaks away as bergs. Such an epoch of activity may be followed by a resting stage, when ablation of ice, partly through the breaking away of bergs, partly through thaw and evaporation, exceeds what is added through ice flow and snow precipitation. Thus in one and the same district one glacier may be rapidly advancing while an adjacent glacier is retreating, as is the case in Spitzbergen with the Sefstrom Glacier and the Von Post Glacier respectively.! With the exception of such glaciers as are in a stage of temporary advance all the ice masses in the world are probably dwindling. Certainly the Antarctic ice sheet is decreasing rapidly, and this ice shrinkage has been general, as fur as we know, over the whole area of the Antarctic Continent, from circle to pole. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.