Notes on a Collection of Rocks and Fossils from Franz Josef Land, made by the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition during 1894–1896

Abstract

I. I ntroduction . T he steamship Windward , which has now paid two visits to Franz Josef Land, brought back last year (1896) a series of rocks and fossils, collected by the Jackson-tIarmsworth Expedition. This collection, by far the most important which has reached this country from Franz Josef Land, was forwarded to the Geological Survey, and at the request of the Director-General, Sir Archibald Geikie, we have undertaken its examination. Although the full results of the geological observations recorded by Dr. Kcettlitz cannot be made known until the return of the expedition, it has been thought desirable that a preliminary account of the district , based on the specimens already received, should be published. II. P revious W ork on the G eology of F ranz J osef L and . The geological literature relating to Franz Josef Land, though small in amount, is sufficient to prove that those portions of the district which have as yet been visited possess a comparatively simple geological structure. Scattered observations have now been made over more than two degrees of latitude by Payer, Leigh Smith, Jackson, and Nansen, and everywhere the features observed appear to be essentially of the same character. It is a region of plateau-basalts comparable, not only in its main features, but also in many of its minor details, to portions of the western coast of Scotland. Vast flows of basaltic lava, associated in all probability with intrusive sills of the same type of rock, form the greater portion of the district. Sometimes the basalt descends to the level