Lauge Koch's Last Lecture

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Geoscience Canada Journal of the Geological Association of Canada Journal de l’Association Géologique du Canada

The Tooth of Time Lauge Koch’s Last Lecture Paul F. Hoffman

Volume 40, Number 4, 2013

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Publisher(s) The Geological Association of Canada

ISSN 0315-0941 (print) 1911-4850 (digital)

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Cite this document Hoffman, P. F. (2013). The Tooth of Time: Lauge Koch’s Last Lecture. Geoscience Canada, 40(4), 242–255.

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COLUMN

The Tooth of Time: Supported by the Greenland Ministry his imagination was fired by the ill- of the Danish government, independ- fated 1906–08 Danmark Expedition Lauge Koch’s Last Lecture ent of the federal Geological Survey, (Hansen 2005), during which his Koch’s East Greenland expeditions ‘uncle’ (actually a more distant relative) Paul F. Hoffman continued for twenty-three field sea- Captain J. P. (Johan Peter) Koch and 1216 Montrose Ave. sons until 1958 (Koch 1961), culminat- two companions dog-sledded over Victoria, BC, Canada, V8T 2K4 ing after his death with tectonic and 2000 km from Danmarkshavn to Cape geological maps of East Greenland Bridgman on the north coast of The Danish Greenland cartographer (Haller 1970; Koch and Haller 1971) Greenland, previously reached only and geologist Lauge Koch (1892–1964) and the magnificent book, Geology of from the west (Fig. 1). Lauge Koch had was a legend at the time of his last the East Greenland Caledonides (Haller his first taste of Greenland in 1913 as public appearance, in Hamilton Hall at 1971). Koch was lionized international- an apprentice to Morten P. Porsild, a McMaster University in March 1964. ly—he received medals, national hon- Danish botanist who spent most of his Before he was 30 years old, he had ours and honourary degrees in eight adult life based at a research station he charted the entire coastline of North foreign countries and was venerated at founded at Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Greenland by dogsled (19 sheets at 1:300K scale) and had described the Yale, Harvard, Columbia and McGill on Disko Island in central West Green- essential features of its geologic struc- universities (Müller 1964; Dunbar land. As a 21-year-old, Koch’s interests ture and stratigraphy (Haller 1971; 1966)—but in Denmark he was a con- had been split between geology and Dawes 1976; Dawes and Haller 1979). troversial figure whose failure to make ornithology, but under the knowledge- This was made possible by opportuni- alliances with parties who were other- able Porsild his assigned task to collect ties arising from threats to Danish sov- wise bound to oppose him led to a Tertiary plant fossils evolved into a ereignty over North Greenland by the damaging court case in the mid-1930’s flair for mapping and a desire to inves- United States prior to 1917, when the (Ries 2002) and the premature termina- tigate the glaciology and geology of American claim based on Robert E. tion of his East Greenland mapping- the unexplored north coast of Green- Peary’s 1891–1909 expeditions was based research program in 1958 land (Dawes 2012). Late in the season, relinquished as part of a deal whereby (Dawes 2012). Koch was 71 years old he actually met J. P. Koch and meteor- they acquired the Virgin Islands, for- and struggling to complete a treatise ologist-glaciologist Alfred Wegener at merly Danish West Indies. In 1926, on the Precambrian geology of Green- Godhavn. They were headed south Koch shifted his activities to East land and North America when, in Feb- after crossing the Inland Ice at its Greenland, where a providential Nor- ruary 1964, he embarked on a six- widest part, having spent the previous wegian challenge to Danish sovereignty month lecture and study tour spon- winter on the ice near Danmarkshavn. in 1931 enabled him to establish a sored by the American Geological Before arriving in Greenland, the 33- large, international, multidisciplinary Institute and the Carlsberg Foundation. year-old Wegener had submitted the research and mapping program, utiliz- Some may read this who were present fuller version of his newly-developed ing ship-based float planes and flying at Koch’s last lecture, in Hamilton Hall, theory of continental displacement to boats for systematic aerial photogra- but after nearly fifty years their recol- Petermann’s Geographical Journal (Jacoby phy, support of land parties, and navi- lection will have faded while mine has 2001). Koch, who had brought along gation through sea ice. Oskar Kulling, not. the published version to read, present- a member of Koch’s 1929 expedition, Svend Lauge Koch was born ed it to the delighted Wegener who did discovered Devonian vertebrate assem- in Copenhagen in 1892, the first sur- not even know it had been accepted blages sensationally containing the ear- viving child of parents already in their (Dawes 2012). liest known tetrapod, Ichthyostega (Jarvik thirties, the father a clergyman and The west side of Greenland, 1961; Clack 2002; Larsen et al. 2008). author (Dawes 2012). As a teenager, although home to the largest icebergs

be enormously thick, giving rise to giant icebergs (Rink 1853). Rink’s lecture at the Royal Geographical Society (London) on the origin of giant icebergs caught the attention of Charles Lyell, who had long argued that the action of icebergs and sea ice alone could account for the enigmatic land- forms and till deposits of Pleistocene (‘Newer Pliocene’) age (Boylan 1998). I suspect that it was Rink’s assertion that giant icebergs were a product of the Inland Ice that caused Lyell in his last publications (Lyell 1863, 1865) to soft- en his opposition to the former existence of such ice sheets over northern Europe and North America (Agassiz 1842). The head of Baffin Bay was explored and the channel between Ellesmere Island and Greenland revealed in stages by Edward Inglefield (Royal Navy, 1852), Elisha Kent Kane (American civilian, 1853–55), Charles Francis Hall (American civilian, 1871–73) and George S. Nares (Royal Navy, 1875–76). In 1882, two members of the Greely (United States Army) Expedition, James B. Lockwood and David L. Brainard, sledged on sea ice from Ellesmere Island along the north coast of Greenland to 40°W longitude (Lockwood Island), reaching a new ‘farthest north’ at 83°23’08”N (Koch 1940; Hayes 2003). In 1891–92 another American, career Navy officer Robert E. Peary, established a base near Qaanaaq, north of Thule, from which he and Norwegian skier Eivind Astrup Figure 1. GoogleEarth image of Greenland and environs, showing locations men- dog-sledded across the northern ramp tioned in the text, contours of elevation above sea level and routes of early expedi- of the Inland Ice to Navy Cliff at the tions on the Inland Ice including Peary and Astrup 1892, Mikkelsen 1910, Ras- head of Independence Fjord, a 2000 mussen and Freuchen 1912, and J. P. Koch and Wegener 1913, according to Ras- km round-trip (Peary 1893). From mussen (1915). Note that only contours above 1500 m are shown because of steep Navy Cliff (Fig. 2), they could see ice- gradients at the Ice margins. Sea ice is not shown. Arctic sea ice is expelled into free land on the northern skyline Greenland Sea in summer, while Denmark and Davis straits are the principal (Peary Land), which Peary mistakenly source areas of North Atlantic Deep Water. Major fjords and glaciers in North inferred to be a separate island or Greenland: H, Humboldt Glacier; K, J. P. Koch Fjord; L, De Long Fjord; S, Sher- archipelago. ard Osborn Fjord; V, Victoria Fjord. Other locations: IL, Inglefield Land; NC, Peary’s attempts to reach the Navy Cliff. North Pole embarked from the Cana- dian side of Robeson Channel. In outside of Antarctica, is protected ence of mountainous topography was 1900, a year after frostbite required the from the summer flush of Arctic sea first appreciated by H. J. Rink, who amputation of all but the little toes on ice that makes the northeast coast of spent 20 years in West Greenland, first both his feet, Peary along with Greenland all but unserviceable by sea. as a scientist and later as a trade man- Matthew Henson and five Inuit Consequently, West Greenland has ager and administrator. Rink reasoned hunters embarked from Fort Conger long been colonized while East Green- that the vast catchment area drained in (Fig. 1), nearly 700 km north of Thule. land never has, despite its proximity to West Greenland by only a small num- They sledged eastward along the north Europe. The vast extent of Green- ber of narrow outlet ice streams coast of Greenland on the sea ice until land’s ‘inland ice plain’ and its independ- (‘isströmme’) requires the ice streams to finally with one Inuit, Angmalortooq, 244

ished five years earlier. Returning by Is. od way of Independence Fjord, they kwo Loc D found no evidence of a channel to the AN L northwest reported by Peary (Fig. 2). RY EA e They did find Mylius-Erichsen’s cairns Sea P nc coln de y but they were empty. The notes they Lin en a ep B once contained, first reporting the Ind Sh non-existence of Peary’s channel, had erard Osb orn been retrieved in 1910 by Captain F jo l r GR e d Ejnar Mikkelsen, who in 1912 was still ANT L n if f AND n Cl a y ice-bound in East Greenland. His over- h av C N n OE due return had been one of the moti- o NYEB s H e A vations for Rasmussen and Freuchen’s b L LAND L o

R L epic sledge journey in the first place A N l D (Koch 1925a). The journey, which e n n a nearly cost both men their lives GRIN h NELL LAND C y through starvation, was described not d e n HINGTON altogether approvingly by Sir Clements n WAS e K LAND ap Markham, President of the Royal Geo- ce C graphical Society (London), as “the ior I finest ever performed by dogs” (Markham cier ter 1921). Humboldt Gla t In Kane Basin Grea Lauge Koch was recommend- ed for Rasmussen’s Second Thule Expedition (1916–18) by Hans Peter D LAN IELD Steensby (Dawes 2012), an anthropolo- GLEF IN gist at the University of Copenhagen Sketch Map where Koch had graduated in 1911 and Qaa- showing route of the would receive his M.Sc. (1920) and naaq North Greenland Expedition Ph.D. (1929). Originally enlisted to lf map the geology and assist Freuchen f ield Gu gle In of 1891-1892 with the cartography, the 24-year-old Koch assumed both responsibilities Robt E. Peary U.S.N. when Freuchen had to attend to press- ing matters in Thule. Rasmussen’s ulti- mate objective was to map the great fjords on the Greenland side of the C ape York lle Bay Lincoln Sea, including Peary Channel Melvi (Fig. 2). The original plan was to cross the Inland Ice to Independence Fjord and work westward, but in the end Figure 2. Route taken by Robert E. Peary and Eivind Astrup in 1892 from Red- they crossed over into Kane Basin, cliff House, near present Qaanaaq, across the Inland Ice to Navy Cliff, overlooking took the sea ice through Kennedy and the head of Independence Fjord. From there, Peary inferred that the fjord was a bay opening eastward into the Greenland Sea (Fig. 1) with a channel (Peary Chan- Robeson channels into the Lincoln nel) leading westward into Lincoln Sea (modified from Peary 1893). Sea, and mapped the fjords from west to east before returning to Thule over the Inland Ice (Rasmussen 1921). they rounded Cape Morris Jesup, the was established at Thule in 1910 by the Arriving in Godthåb (Nuuk) by ship in northernmost point on Greenland. Greenland-born ethnographer and April 1916, Rasmussen and Koch made After an attempt to sledge poleward anthropologist Knud Rasmussen, who the punishing 2000-km journey up the was stymied by pressure ridges and embarked on a series of expeditions west coast to Thule by mid-summer, water leads at 83°50’N, they continued across North Greenland and Arctic mapping the ice-clogged Melville Bay eastward another 200 km to Wyckoff Canada (Mathiassen 1934). After a as they went. Then they relayed sup- Land (Peary 1903; Koch 1940; Mills false start in 1911, Rasmussen and jun- plies onto the Inland Ice for the fol- 2003). After 1900, two Arctic myths ior colleague Peter Freuchen, a talented lowing year. The unexpected arrival of were cast adrift: Greenland did not writer, crossed the Inland Ice south of the old expedition ship Danmark and extend across the Pole to the New Peary and Astrup’s route in 1912. They her crew at Thule late in the season Siberian Islands and the Polar ocean reached Danmark Fjord, where Mylius- required Koch to spend the winter at was not free of ice. Erichsen, leader of the Danmark Expe- Tasiusak, near Upernavik, separated A permanent trading station dition, and two companions had per- from Rasmussen. When he returned to GEOSCIENCE CANADA Volume 40 2013 245

Thule, two men from the Danmark had talked their way onto the northern party. Neither Hendrik Olsen, a Green- W ULFF L AND I lander and veteran of the Danmark W ARMING L AND N L d A r N D Expedition, or Thorild Wulff, a 40-year- jo Rink Firn F rd D. Bruun I o Firn C a j E i F old Swedish botanist, would survive r rn o o t sb the journey. c i O rd V d jo r e F As the party would rely on a rg rchean’ r eo A e t G hunting to feed the dogs and the men h in S a S when not on the Inland Ice (where Dragon game is non-existent), three Inuit Point cline shield North hunters joined Olsen and the three sci- Caledonianelt Late Silurian mono - early Cambrian ‘ entists. Aside from Rasmussen, as fold b chief, the six others were explicitly given equal status. Departing in early Figure 3. Block diagram of fjords on the North Greenland side of Lincoln Sea, April 1917, the party made good time showing Dragon Point, a rendezvous used in 1917 during the 2nd Thule Expedi- and arrived at Dragon Point (Fig. 3), tion, and the route taken out of Saint George Fjord across the Daniel Bruun and between Saint George and Sherard Rink ice caps onto the Inland Ice. Note the geological cross-section drawn by Osborn fjords, in mid-May. For the Lauge Koch (modified from Rasmussen 1921). next six weeks they explored the main fjords to the east—Sherard Osborn westernmost Inglefield Land (Fig. 2). reputations survived the ordeal but Fjord, Victoria Fjord, Nordenskjöld They were still 225 km from Etah, the their friendship did not. Koch vowed Fjord, and newly discovered J. P. Koch nearest settlement, and Wulff in partic- that on subsequent expeditions, he Fjord and De Long Fjord (Rasmussen ular was near the end of his rope. Ras- would be in charge. 1927; Koch 1940). The work was mussen and Ajako, the strongest Inuit, Koch shrewdly named his own exhausting as deep snow covered the set out immediately on a forced march 1920–23 expedition to North Green- sea ice in the protected fjords. Worse, to Etah for help. Koch and the other land the Bicentenary Jubilee Expedi- hunting was less productive than pre- two Inuit were left to slowly ease Wulff tion, to celebrate the arrival in Green- dicted with the result that everyone toward a large lake that drains into land 200 years earlier of Hans Egede was always hungry and the number of Marshall Bay. However, Wulff soon and company (Koch 1919), which dogs was in steep decline. Deciding to refused to go on and the other three, reestablished Dano-Norwegian contact forego a final dash to Cape Morris in dire shape themselves, decided to with the Norse settlers. During the Jesup, they headed back toward Drag- proceed without him. They were met three-year expedition, Koch wintered on Point and their planned ascent onto by a relief party from Etah on the 4th at Upernavik and set up seasonal head- the Inland Ice at the head of Saint of September. quarters near Qaanaaq. He originally George Fjord. Melting snow and melt- In Etah, Rasmussen and Koch intended a sizeable expedition utilizing water made travel arduous and slow. differed about the need to mount an tracked vehicles (a product of the On July 21st, Hendrik Olsen did not immediate search for Wulff ’s body: European Trench War of 1914–18) to return from a hunting excursion and fresh snow and dim light would make transport supplies across the Inland could not be found. The remaining six it difficult if not impossible to relocate Ice. In the end, he opted to use Peary’s finally reached Saint George Fjord in his final resting spot. They differed old base at Fort Conger on the north early August, but rotten sea ice forced about how best to handle the negative side of Robeson Channel as the jump- them onto land 20 km short of the reaction of their backers and the press. ing off point in 1921 for the first cir- head of the fjord and 70 km from the Koch’s letters (Dawes 2012) reveal that cum-navigation of Peary Land (Koch edge of the Inland Ice (Fig. 3). After Wulff was suffering from advanced 1923a, 1927, 1929c, 1940; Mills 2003). crossing the Daniel Bruun Ice Cap, the syphilis and had been taking morphine After improving his previous mapping party had to drag their sledges through throughout the journey for pain and with Rasmussen as far east as De Long a snowless limestone canyon to the depression. Koch felt drained by Fjord, Koch and three Inuit compan- Rink Ice Cap, and then across a 20- Wulff ’s self-pity and need for constant ions including two hunters then km-wide valley (Midgaardsormen) of encouragement. The expectations of mapped the entire north coast of bare ground to the foot of the Inland the expedition had been unrealistic but Peary Land, becoming the first Dane Ice. This took five days of toil. Wulff should not have been on the to visit Peary’s cairn at Cape Morris Driven by desperation, they party in the first place. The shock of Jesup. Beyond it, at Cape Bridgman, made good time on the Inland Ice the human tragedies was compounded they found another cairn with a mes- until they reached the broad Humboldt by a public relations nightmare. Ras- sage left by J. P. Koch of the Danmark Glacier, where they were slowed to a mussen and Koch also disagreed about Expedition fourteen years earlier. crawl by rivers of supraglacial meltwa- an impending police inquiry: should it After limited hunting success ter. Out of food and dogs, they be held in Greenland (Rasmussen) or around the low eastern cape of Peary descended from the Inland Ice on Copenhagen (Koch, supposedly on the Land (Horlufsholm Strand), they August 24th near Cape Agassiz in advice of Porsild)? In the end, their entered Independence Fjord and on its 246

Cape Morris Jessup Cape Bridgman

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Figure 4. North Greenland and adjacent Canada showing the route (dashed red line) taken by Lauge Koch in 1921 during the Bicentenary Jubilee Expedition (modified from Koch 1924). The sledge journey with three Innuit companions covered 2400 km in 200 days, during which Koch mapped the topography and the geology. Abbreviated locations: A.B.L., Adam Biering Land; V.L., Vildtland (Navy Cliff); W.L., Warmland. north shore found a broad low valley stopping at Peary’s 1891 observation and 2). Koch immediately endeavoured (Wandel Valley) heading off to the point near Navy Cliff, they retraced his to set the record straight (Koch 1923a, west (Fig. 4). They walked 35 km up outgoing route (Fig. 2) from which 1924, 1925a), with Morten Porsild this linear valley to a lookout, from they could see the Wandel Valley again serving as editor and correspondent where they could see a chain of lakes and its chain of lakes, from a lofty per- with the outside world. Koch praised with no end in sight (Koch 1925a, spective. Only then did they circle back Peary’s observations and observed that 1940). Had they walked on the other along the northern rim of the Inland from Peary’s vantage points on the (south) side of the river they would Ice (Fig. 4). Expecting a supply depot Inland Ice and Navy Cliff, he had good have passed outcrops of Cryogenian en route that did not materialize, they reason to infer that Wandel Valley was tillite (MorFnesø Formation) along the barely made it to Cape Forbes on the a frozen arm of the sea. Besides, he valley floor (Jepsen 1971; Dawes 1976; north side of the Humboldt Glacier, concluded, not so long ago Peary Land Bengaard and Henriksen 1986). where a hunting party was waiting as was a true archipelago as the land has Returning to Independence Fjord, they planned in case it was needed. To been steadily rising since the last glacial found a cairn near its head (at Cape avoid the river crossings on the Hum- period (Koch 1925a). Glacier) with a note left by Mylius- boldt Glacier, Koch waited until In the Spring of 1922, Koch Erichsen reporting a glacier (Marie freeze-up in late September before returned with three Inuit to the Lin- Sophie Glacier) entering from the west returning on the new sea ice to his coln Sea (Koch 1927, 1929c, 1940). where Peary Channel should have been headquarters near Qaanaaq. They had Mapping the coasts of Washington (Fig. 2). They ascended the Academy sledged 2400 km in 200 days on short Land and Hall Land, they linked up Glacier out of the fjord and mapped rations. with the previous year’s outgoing route the Vildtland nunataks at the edge of In the wake of the Mylius- from Fort Conger at Cape Brevoort, the Inland Ice, which are composed of Erichsen tragedy, much had been made the western tip of Nyeboe Land. In flat-lying sandstone invaded by feeders of the non-existence of Peary Channel midsummer, Koch studied the gently to the stratigraphically overlying Zig- and, more critically, Peary’s incorrect seaward-tilted Early Paleozoic lime- Zag Dal Basalt Formation, the out- inference that Independence Fjord was stone succession (Fig. 3) on the south pourings of a large igneous event at a bay that opened southeastward into shore of Washington Land (Koch ~1382 Ma (Upton et al. 2005). After the Greenland Sea (compare Figs. 1 1929a), and back-hauled fossil collec- GEOSCIENCE CANADA Volume 40 2013 247

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l the 2nd Thule (1916-18) and Bicentenary a Caledonian Jubilee (1920-23) expeditions C ‘continental’ ‘oceanic’ North Sea Figure 5. Tectonic zonation of North Greenland into an ‘Archean’ shield, a Paleozoic platform (‘Great Sediment Plain’), a Caledonian fold belt, and a fault zone along the EUROPE coast of Baffin Bay (modified from Koch 1925). The appar- ent left-lateral offset of the Caledonian fold belt across Figure 6. The Caledonian fold belt of North Greenland Nares Strait between North Greenland and Ellesmere Island and Ellesmere Island (black areas) and its inferred continua- (Canada), disputed by Koch and many subsequent workers, tion with contemporaneous orogenic belts in Svalbard, west- was cited by Wegener (1924) in support of Taylor’s (1910) ern Norway and northwest Britain (modified from Koch interpretation (Fig. 6) of an early Tertiary rift origin of Baf- 1920). fin Bay. tions. In the Fall, he crossed the Inland proterozoic) cover sequence (Thule North Greenland as being collinear Ice lobe with a Dane and two Inuit to Supergroup of Dawes 1997, 2006a) is with contemporaneous ‘geosynclines’ map and collect fossils from the base preserved; a Paleozoic platform (‘Great in Arctic Canada and northwestern of the Paleozoic succession on Ingle- Sediment Plain’) in which Proterozoic Europe (Fig. 6). field Land. The following Spring, he cover is overlain by nearly 4.0 km of Koch was aware of the returned from Upernavik and mapped slightly-tilted, seaward-younging, early intense ongoing debate over the theory the Cape York district, including the Cambrian (Atdabanian) through late of continental drift (Dawes 2012). He Proterozoic Thule Supergroup, before Silurian (Ludlow) fossiliferous carbon- affirmed that faunal evidence in North his Bicentenary Expedition ended in ates with abrupt terminal drowning and East Greenland is “highly confirmato- mid-1923. The unqualified success of (Dawes 2004); and a northern belt of ry” of paleoequatorial migrations as the expedition drew attention to its ‘Caledonian’ folding and faulting (Koch inferred by Köppen and Wegener then 31-year-old leader. 1920, 1921, 1927, 1929c, 1935, 1940). (1924), and he agreed that a Paleozoic The combined results of the The area is covered by four sheets of or older origin for Baffin Bay is not 1916–18 expedition with Rasmussen the modern Geological Survey of supported by the regional stratigraphy. and his own of 1920–23 enabled Koch Greenland 1:500K map series, Thule However, he questioned Taylor’s (1910) to compile the first systematic topo- (Dawes 2006b), Humboldt Gletscher interpretation of Nares Strait as a graphic (Koch 1922, 1932) and geolog- (Dawes and Garde 2004), Nyeboe Land (transform) fault zone related to Terti- ical (Koch 1929a, 1933; Dawes and (Henriksen 1989) and Peary Land (Ben- ary opening of Baffin Bay (Fig. 7), and Haller 1979) maps of North Green- gaard and Henriksen 1986). Koch’s he objected to Wegener’s (1924) cita- land. Geologically, he divided the major reports appeared domestically in tion of his own map (Fig. 5) in sup- region into three zones (Fig. 5): a the Meddelelser om Grønland but he took port of that interpretation (Koch southern ‘Archean’ shield area (largely care to publish summary papers in 1929c). He argued against major strike- ice covered) with an inferred down- England (Koch 1923a, 1924) and slip in Nares Strait until the end (Koch faulted block bordering Baffin Bay, America (Koch 1923b, c, 1925a, b). He 1963), as do others (Christie et al 1981; where a thick ‘Algonkian’ (Meso-Neo- viewed the Caledonian fold belt in Dawes 2009) who leave themselves no 248

Fault line with 330 of f-setting ? Grant Land displacement Qaanaaq Thule Danmarks- havn Kulhuse Upernavik Rift GREEN- Scoresby- Godhavn sund B a f f i n L a n d 330 Nuuk Rift LAND ? Eskimonaes HORST Nordf jord

330 Mackenzie Bay ? Valley

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ScoresbyScoresby Figure 7. Interpretation of a fixed Greenland with Tertiary sundsund separation of North America by southwestward drift (redrawn from Taylor 1910). To account for the greater width of Davis Strait relative to Baffin Bay, Taylor postulated a branch rift in Hudson Strait – Foxe Basin (between Baffin Island and mainland North America). Alternatively, if no oceanic rift exists in this branch, Greenland must have rotat- Fall 1926 ed anticlockwise with respect to North America about an Spring 1927 Euler pole in Arctic Canada. 100 km explanation for Baffin Bay, but he Baffin Bay requires Kangerdlugsuak claimed to be agnostic about continen- an anticlockwise tal drift more generally: “... to the theory rotation of Green- Figure 8. Central East Greenland showing the sledge routes as a whole no attitude will be taken here” land with respect to taken by Koch along with Greenlanders Tobias Gabrielsen (Koch 1963). Koch’s reaction to conti- interior North and Karl Mathiassen in Fall 1926 (broken red line) and nental drift was that of a parochialist: America about an Spring 1927 (broken green line where routes differed). In the does the concept work in my field Euler pole in Arctic 1930’s, field headquarters at Scoresbysund and Expedition area? He did not engage the broader Canada. The Paleo- Houses in the fjord zone accommodated over 100 scientists tapestry of the debate. Moreover, gene Eurekan (geologists, geographers, biologists and anthropologists) and Koch was a master of facts, not of orogeny in the assistants in summer, with smaller crews maintaining field synthesis. Yet, in a rare speculative Sverdrup Basin laboratory work during the winter (figure modified from moment he mused that “future investiga- north of Baffin Dawes 2012). tions will reveal strong faulting north of Baf- Bay and in Nares fin Bay, which faulting has possibly some con- Strait itself is a transpressional mani- ents Sea shelf of Arctic Europe. nection with the development of Davis Strait festation of this rotation (Miall 1983; After the Bicentenary Expedi- – Baffin Bay” (Koch 1929c, p. 319). De Paor et al. 1989; Okulitch et al. tion, Koch switched his main focus to Indeed it would. The oceanic width of 1990; Tessensohn et al. 2006, 2008; East Greenland, where he led a two- Davis Strait is nearly twice that of Baf- von Gosen et al. 2008; Denyszyn et al. year expedition (1926–27) supported fin Bay. Taylor (1910) accounted for 2009). Paleogene deformation also by the three-master Gustav Holm, with this with an oceanic branch rift extends eastward within the ‘Caledon- headquarters at the settlement of between Baffin Island and mainland ian fold belt’ of North Greenland Scoresbysund (Fig. 8). The goal was to Canada (Fig. 7). Conversely, if no (Lyberis and Manby 1999), merging investigate the deeply indented and oceanic rift exists there, then the ultimately with the Nansen Fracture geologically unexplored ‘fjord zone’ widening southward of Davis Strait – Zone between Greenland and the Bar- (72° – 76°N) to the north, as well as GEOSCIENCE CANADA Volume 40 2013 249 the nearby Mesozoic basin in Jameson Land (Koch 1929b, 1930; Haller 1971; Birkelund and Perch-Nielsen 1976; Escher and Watt 1976; Henriksen 1997, 2008; Escher 2001; Brooks 2008, 2009; Higgins et al. 2008). The other expedition members were paleob- otanist Tom Harris from Cambridge Russian University, vertebrate paleontologist PlatformPlatform Alfred Rosenkrantz from the Universi- BalticBaltic ty of Copenhagen, and two Greenlan- ders, Tobias Gabrielsen and Karl CanadianCanadddianan NorthNorthh SSh.h.h Mathiassen, who would accompany Blockk Koch on the long sledge journeys (Koch 1930). The first Fall they recon- SouthSouthth noitered as far north as Mackenzie Bay Blockk TertiaryTertiaryIgy IgneousIgneoneeousous and the following Spring they sledged ProvinceProvincin e all the way to Danmarkshavn and back, SShieldhield both times exploring the cavernous fjords that transect the largely ice-free coastal mountains (Fig. 8). An overall seaward-younging succession of sedimentary rocks, tectonically overlying an ‘Archean’ basement complex, is majes- Figure 9. Koch’s (1929c) interpretation of shields and ‘geosynclines’ (shaded dot- tically displayed on fjord walls up to ted areas) around the North Atlantic region (compare with Fig. 5). He interpreted 2000 m high (Koch 1928, 1929b, c, the Caledonian fold belt (geosyncline) of East Greenland as independent of the 1955; Haller 1971). The sedimentary contemporaneous belt passing through North Greenland and northwest Europe, stack begins with a 13-km-thick multi- the two meeting at a vertex off the northeast corner of Greenland (redrawn from coloured succession of mixed clastics Koch 1929c). and carbonates of ‘Algonkian’ (early Neoproterozoic) age, the Eleonore Bay The Norwegian challenge to Holm), attended by float planes and fly- Supergroup (Katz 1961; Bengaard Danish sovereignty in the region, based ing boats (Catalinas) used for systematic 1992; Sønderholm and Tirsgaard 1993; on intermittent occupation of long photogrammetric surveys, supplying Tirsgaard and Sønderholm 1997; Søn- houses built by Norwegian fishermen, land parties and aerial reconnaissance. derholm et al. 2008). It is followed by a was taken more seriously in Copen- Among the float planes was the Norse- recessive interval (Tillite Group) with a hagen than the earlier American chal- man, a wooden-bodied predecessor of pair of Cryogenian glacial formations lenge in North Greenland. A formal the De Haviland Beaver and the first (Hambrey and Spencer 1987). The challenge was issued in 1931 and was plane in which I ever flew. Operations weakly metamorphosed Neoprotero- finally overruled in Denmark’s favour were coordinated by wireless. When zoic succession is overlain by nearly 3 at The Hague in 1933. The sovereignty the Danish Sirius Patrol gave us per- km of Cambrian and Ordovician car- issue was a bonanza for Koch, whose mission to use Koch’s Expedition bonates, mostly limestone (Cowie and ongoing field work in the area was a House on Ella Island (Figs. 10–11), I Adams 1957; Smith and Rasmussen determining factor in the court deci- slept in the radio room amongst stacks 2008). An angular unconformity sepa- sion and who took full advantage of of wireless sets the size of beer crates, rates the mainly marine Neoprotero- the opportunity for greatly increased containing rows of glass tubes and zoic and early Paleozoic strata from private and public support for work in enormous tuning dials. For traditional- terrestrial redbeds, including coarse- this logistically challenged geological ists of the ‘Heroic Era’ of Arctic grained conglomerates, of Devonian paradise. With primary backing from exploration and science, Koch’s age (Larsen and Bengaard 1991; Hartz the Greenland Administration of the reliance on aircraft and air photo inter- 2000; Larsen et al. 2008). Still younger federal government, Koch established pretation was considered a form of rocks occur along the outer coast, permanent ‘Expedition Houses’ in the cheating; glorifying it (Fig. 12) was including outliers of the great Paleo- fjord zone (Fig. 8), accommodating beyond detestable (Ries 2002). Under- gene igneous province south of over 100 scientists in total—geologists, standably, Koch’s ascendancy in East Scoresby Sound (Noe-Nygaard 1976). geographers, biologists and anthropol- Greenland was viewed with increasing Koch (1929c) interpreted the Caledon- ogists—during the summer season. alarm by the institutions actually ian deformation in East Greenland as a Small labs were maintained throughout authorized to conduct geological inves- separate belt that joined the North the year, avoiding the need to send all tigations in Greenland, the Mineralogi- Greenland – European Caledonian belt samples to Copenhagen. Starting in cal Museum (University of Copen- at a vertex off the northeast corner of 1932, the camps were serviced by one hagen) and the Geological Survey of Greenland (Fig. 9). or two ships (Godthaab and Gustav Denmark. In 1931, Koch had moved 250

Kong Oscar Fjord Ordovician carbonates

Kempe Fjord

Solitarbugt“ Kap Expedition House Oswald Storeelv Ulveso EBG

Ulveso

Bastionbugt Figure 12. Publicity photo of Lauge Figure 10. View from Bastion Peak (Devonian redbeds) on Ella Island: the Cryo- Koch in 1938, at the time of a bally- genian Tillite Group with its pair of glacial formations (Ulvesø and Storeelv) over- hooed flight in search of non-existent lies early Neoproterozoic carbonates of the upper Eleonore Bay Supergroup land between East Greenland and (EBG) and is faulted against Ordovician carbonates in the background. The Expe- Svalbard (reproduced in Ries 2002). dition House in Solitærbugt (Fig. 11) was the only one maintained after the 1930’s. Koch. Many were not displeased to see his office from the Mineralogical Peter Freuchen, endeared him to read- his wings clipped. Museum to the Greenland Administra- ers in Denmark and around the world. At the time of Rasmussen’s tion building, and thereafter Koch was Koch was asked to write a memorial death, Koch was working on another rubbing elbows with Danish bureau- essay for a Danish newspaper, the kind project that would bring him more crats and diplomats, not Danish geolo- of request he was incapable of refus- serious trouble (Ries 2002; Dawes gists. ing but one which he would have been 2012). He had been invited to write a Knud Rasmussen, meanwhile, wiser to decline (Dawes 2012). book in German, Geologie von Grönland, who personified the Heroic Era on Although laudatory in the main, Koch as part of the series Geologie der Erde. account of his many ethnographic could not resist giving his opinion that The publishers were looking for a expeditions in North Greenland and Rasmussen’s anthropology relied too comprehensive review and synthesis of Arctic Canada, had become a national much on the imagination and not Greenland geology, and Koch was the icon by the time of his unexpected enough on hard facts. Whatever the logical person to ask given his exten- death at the age of 54 in December truth in Koch’s statement, its timing sive field experience and comparative 1933. His many books and magazine was thoughtless and the ensuing furore youth. What Koch delivered, however, articles, along with those of his friend brought down a hail of criticism upon was an account of the geology from

Figure 11. Lauge Koch’s Expedition House on Ella Island in the fjord zone of central East Greenland in 2004, with (left photo) Adam Maloof (Princeton University), Eugene Domack (Hamilton College) and Galen Halverson (McGill University) from left to right. GEOSCIENCE CANADA Volume 40 2013 251 his own expeditions in North and East reprints of the English version were With better aircraft and eventually heli- Greenland, with scant attention paid to distributed around the world. copters, systematic 1:250K geological the deservedly well-known Archean With the backing of the mapping was undertaken between 72° and intrusive igneous rocks of West Greenland Administration, Koch sued and 76°N (Haller 1971; Koch and and South Greenland (Hobbs 1936). the ‘Eleven’ for libel, prompting an Haller 1971). More and more, the actu- He suggested provocatively that the eloquent letter of support from an al mapping and compilation were done Precambrian shield of Greenland unlikely source, Rasmussen’s protégé by the Swiss structural geologist John developed independently from the Peter Freuchen (Ries 2002). The court Haller at the University of Basel (from Canadian Shield. Drafts of the book ruled in favour of the Eleven in March 1965 at Harvard University). This left had not been circulated by Koch for 1937, assessing costs to Koch but Koch open to a new line of attack: comments before publication. An expressing reservation about its own outsourcing the acquisition of strategic organized response came in the form competence on the scientific questions. information. For years an uneasy truce of an essay review of Koch’s book Fearing the loss of a field season, had existed between Koch and the (Bøggild et al. 1935), submitted to the Koch resisted until the last allowable Geological Survey of Greenland, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Den- day the advice of his lawyers and the founded in 1946 with authority over all mark in November 1935. The authors Greenland Administration to appeal of Greenland but effectively excluded were eleven of the leading geologists in the court decision. When the High from East Greenland. Following the Denmark, including O. B. Bøggild Court finally decided in late June 1938, 1958 field season, Koch’s field pro- (Director of the Mineralogical Muse- they upheld the lower court finding gram was abruptly terminated by the um and Professor of the Geological that the book review was not libellous, Greenland Administration. Mapping Institute, University of Copenhagen) but ruled that the attempt to have north of 72°N was complete and on and Victor Madsen (Director of the Koch removed from membership in schedule, but the planned four addi- Geological Survey of Denmark), as the Geological Society was excessive. tional field seasons needed to complete well as four who had worked with Costs were assigned such that both the mapping south to Scoresby Sound Koch in Greenland. They also called parties (in fact different branches of at 70°N, which would have coincided for an extraordinary meeting of the one government) paid equally for both with Koch’s retirement in 1962, were Geological Society to discuss Koch’s proceedings (Ries 2002). Some saw not funded. Ironically, there is evidence removal from membership. The book wisdom in the High Court decision: to suggest that the proximal cause of review accused Koch of ‘unreliable purely scientific disputes have no place the cancellation was an urgent need to working methods’ (mapping from sea in courts of law. For Koch it was a fund exploratory drilling, in the hopes ice and the use of aircraft), ‘omissions personal disaster. His desire, one of attracting international investors, at in coverage’ (lack of ‘Archæan’ and assumes, to replace the retiring Madsen a molybdenum deposit (Malmbjerg) Quaternary sections), ‘unwarranted age as Director of the Geological Survey near Mesters Vig found on Koch’s designations’ (inferring that the and eventually assume the professor- 1954 expedition (Dawes 2012). Eleonore Bay Group of East Green- ship at the University of Copenhagen Koch’s research program land is younger than the Thule Super- was shattered. By choice or necessity, ended just as the plate tectonic revolu- group of North Greenland, subse- Koch would thereafter work mainly tion was getting underway, with the quently shown to be true), ‘incorrect with non-Danish geologists. paleomagnetic confirmation of conti- citations’ (regarding the age of defor- Denmark was under military nental drift (Frankel 2012). Koch did mation in East Greenland), ‘appropria- occupation by Germany from 1940 not live to see its acceptance but John tion of other Explorers’ results’ (con- until 1945. Geological work in Green- Haller (1927–1984) did, without his cerning the discovery of the ‘Caledon- land was suspended. After the war and endorsement. In the early days of plate ian’ fold belt of North Greenland), still employed on a year-to-year basis as tectonics, mountain building (orogene- ‘absurdities and self-contradictions’ a consultant to the Greenland Admin- sis) was assumed to result from sub- (Permian or Triassic fossils, Cambrian istration, Koch slowly reestablished his horizontal shortening of the crust dur- or pre-Cambrian tillites) and so on. East Greenland field program, relying ing collision or subduction-accretion. The complaint over coverage is valid, on the post-war boom in mineral In the East Greenland Caledonides, but the pettiness of the review in sub- exploration (Cowie 1959; Koch 1961; Haller observed a three-layered crustal stance reveals an antipathy toward Haller 1971; Dawes 2012). His efforts structure, a deep structural level below Koch that ran far deeper than Geologie were rewarded during the party’s sec- (‘infrastructure’) and a shallow structural von Grönland. “Though some of their state- ond post-war field season in 1948, with level above (‘superstructure’), juxtaposed ments seem to be verified as regards details,” the discovery of a significant lead-zinc across a warped ‘zone of disharmonic wrote another reviewer (Hobbs 1936), deposit at Mesters Vig (Fig. 8), on the detachment’ (Haller 1971, p. 144–149). “others are trivial, and they are made in a south side of King Oscar Fjord. The The implied tectonic shortening direc- particularly bad spirit, marked by an entire construction of an airstrip at Mesters tion is subvertical, not subhorizontal. If failure to recognize the importance of the Vig greatly simplified access to and the crust was thinned yet is of normal larger results [of Koch’s work]”. The within the fjord zone. Crews could be thickness today, it was either thickened poisonous book review (Bøggild et al. flown not shipped to Greenland and again after being thinned or was thick- 1935) was published in three languages only one of the pre-war Expedition er than normal before being thinned. (Danish, English and German) and 600 Houses, Ella Island, was reestablished. Orogenic collapse, the thinning of tec- 252 tonically overthickened crust, is a logi- flashing eyes, then exasperated gestures cal inference from East Greenland and finally shouts, but I could hear structure, when viewed as being adja- nothing. At length, the lecture merci- cent to the great thrust nappes of fully ended and during the question western Norway and in the context of period I slipped outside in search of Caledonian collision between Baltica snow for the palms of my hands. The and Laurentia (McClay et al. 1986; blisters were still healing when I ran Hartz and Andresen 1995; Torsvik the Boston Marathon a month later. 1998; Hartz et al. 2001; Gilotti and A few days afterwards, I heard McClelland 2008; Henriksen and Hig- that Koch had become ill the morning gins 2008; Cocks and Torsvik 2011). after his Hamilton Hall lecture, and The idea of ‘nappe tectonics in an extend- that his next scheduled appearance, at a ing orogen’ was developed 3 km east of meeting of The Arctic Circle in his office at Harvard (Wernicke 1981, Ottawa, had been cancelled. After the 2009), but I know of nothing to sug- field season, I read that Koch had died gest that Haller ever viewed East in Copenhagen over the summer. For Greenland tectonics in a pre-Atlantic nearly fifty years I lived under the drift framework. Geo. Barkentin assumption that Koch had suffered a McMaster was still a small uni- stroke or heart attack that morning in versity (1,000 undergraduates) at the Figure 13. Lauge Koch in 1963, the Hamilton, perhaps brought on by the time of Koch’s 1964 lecture (Fig. 13), year he received an honorary doctorate stress of the lecture. While writing this but one strongly committed to the nat- from McGill University and a year story, I learned that Koch returned to ural sciences under Dean Henry G. before his last lecture at McMaster New York City, where his daughter Thode, who had measured and University (photo courtesy of Koch lived, underwent surgery and was explained the fractionation of carbon, Family through Peter R. Dawes). flown home to Copenhagen, but did nitrogen and sulfur isotopes in nature not recover (Dawes 2012). On the and in the laboratory under the master, rods to incandescence with an electric nature of his illness I found but a sin- Harold Urey (Shaw et al. 2000). The arc. Because of its noise, the projector gle reference in English, that by the Geology Department was flourishing was mounted in a sound-proof projec- West Greenland ethnographer Klaus and invited speakers included both tion booth in the back of the lecture Georg Hansen, whose entry on Koch advocates (Harry Hess) and adversaries theatre. As an undergraduate, I was in the Encyclopedia of the Arctic (Hansen (Frank Stehli) of continental drift, at a asked to run the projector, changing 2005) states that he died of cancer. time when few departments had any the slides as prompted by hand signals inkling that a major scientific revolu- from Koch at the front of the hall. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS tion was underway. McMaster sedimen- The hitch was that many of Koch’s Detailed comments by Peter Dawes tologist Gerard V. (Gerry) Middleton, lantern slides were in vertical format, (Copenhagen) and Tom Frisch whose South African roots were other- while the slide holder in the projector (Ottawa) led to many factual improve- wise well concealed, stated that Alex could only accommodate horizontals. ments. Dawes kindly also provided the du Toit’s geological comparison of However, the projector itself had two portrait of Koch (Fig. 13). Randolph South America with southern Africa strong metal handles, one on each side, Corney helped digitize the old figures. could not be ignored (du Toit 1927, allowing the projectionist to lift the 20- 1937; Martin 1961). kilogram contraption off its mount, REFERENCES Lauge Koch’s presentation on rotate the entire unit 90° by hand and Agassiz, L., 1842, The glacier theory and the Precambrian geology of Greenland hold it. Problem solved, Koch’s lecture its recent progress: Edinburgh New was expected to be well attended. The began. Philosophical Journal, v. 33, no. 46, p. large lecture theatre in Hamilton Hall What hadn’t been anticipated 217–283. was booked, with a reception after- was that as Koch’s talk wore on, for- Bengaard, H.-J., 1992, Upper Proterozoic wards. His lecture would be profusely mation by formation, the projector and (Eleonore Bay Group) to Devonian, illustrated with large-format aerial pho- its metal handles got hotter and hotter. central fjord zone, East Greenland: tographs taken with his own aircraft. It became ever more difficult to hold Geological Survey of Greenland, Map He did not bring the photographs as the projector unit steady for vertical scale 1:250,000. overhead transparencies or 35 mm slides while the handles burned into Bengaard, H.-J., and Henriksen, N., 1986, slides, but as glass-mounted 3¼ x 4¼ my palms. Every flinch caused the Geological map of Greenland, inch (83 x 103 mm) lantern slides, giant image on the screen to dance 1:500,000, Peary Land, sheet 8: Geo- logical Survey of Greenland, Copen- arranged in numbered boxes. There away from Koch’s pointer, as he hagen. was only one projector with a carrier attempted to describe the stratigraphy Birkelund, T., and Perch-Nielsen, K., 1976, suitable for his oversize slides, an of the bottomless Eleonore Bay Super- Late Paleozoic – Mesozoic evolution ancient arc lamp contraption the size group, bed-group by bed-group. Koch of central East Greenland, in Escher, of an expedition rucksack. The light became more and more agitated: his A., and Watt, W.S., eds., Geology of beam was generated by heating carbon hand signals were delivered first with Greenland: Greenland Geological Sur- GEOSCIENCE CANADA Volume 40 2013 253

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