This dissertation has been 63—37 microfilmed exactly as received BLAKE, Jr., Weston, 1930— GEOMORPHOLOGY AND GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN NORDAUSTLANDET, SPITSBERGEN. (VOLUMES I AND n). The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1962 Geology University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan OaOMDRPHOLOGY AND GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN NORDAUSTLANDET, SPITSBERGEN Volume I DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Weston Blake, Jr., A.B., M, Sc, xxxxxxxx The Ohio State University 1962 Approved by Richard P. Golüthwait Department of Geology PREFACE F ie ld Work The field work upon which this dissertation is based was carried out during th e summers of 1957 and 1958 w hile I served as g la c ia l geologist with the Swedish Glaciological Expedition to Nordaustlandet (North-East Land), Spitsbergen, led by Dr. V. Schytt of Stockholms Universitets Geografiska Institution, General accounts of the two summers' work are given in the "Polar Record" (Blake, 1958, pp. 142- 143; 1959, pp. 339-340). In 1957 the four members of our expedition arrived in Nordaustlandet on July 15th, and my three companions departed on August 27th, Field work was carried out on the following days: July 21-28, and 30; August 2-16, 19 and 24-25, a total of four weeks. The rest of the time was spent unloading ships, unpacking, and packing. Of the actual days spent doing field work a considerable amount of time was devoted to establishing depots for the next summer's work and setting out ablation stakes and thermistors on the ice cap, Vestfonna. Thus most of the field work was necessarily of a reconnaissance nature. The five weeks from August 28th to October 3rd were entirely occupied by field work. However, most of this period was devoted to starting a detailed study of patterned ground near Kinnvika, Murchisonfjorden, and the results of this work w ill be treated in a separate report. On a five day trip to Lady Franklinfjorden the motion survey of S^re Franklinbreen (South Franklin Glacier) ii was begun, and a final trip was made to the ice cap to read ablation stakes and thermistors. In I 95 Ô five of us flew north on May 8th, Some field work was carried out on May 9-14, and 26-2?j June 1-2, 16-17, and 22-23, Otherwise the time between May 13th and June 26th was spent assisting in glaciological and seismic vrork on the ice caps. The time between June 27th and July 8th was devoted partly to . field work near Kinnvika, partly to preparing for the second part of the summer. From July 9th to August 7 th two of us made a t r i p to Lady F ra n k lin f jorden and Lagfdya; between August 9th and 20th we worked in Murchisonfjorden, From August 21st to 31st, when the expedition left Nordaustlandet, time was divided between packing and field work. Thus most of the work reported in this dissertation was carried out during a six-week period in July and August, 1 9 5 8 , P lace Names The place names used are those approved by Norsk Polarinstitutt (the Norwegian Polar Institute), according to their publication "The Place-Names of Svalbard" (1942, pp, 1-539) and the supplement to this (Orvin, 1958, pp, 1-133)« All names used here for the first time have been approved by Dr, A. K, Orvin of Norsk Polarinstitutt, The latter part of each place-name is given in Norwegian, and for that reason a list of Norwegian endings is given below, according to Orvin (1958, pp, 9-11), The part in parentheses is the definite article. i i x Norwegian English translation a u st(re ) east, eastern b e rg (e t) mountain, h ill, crag bre(en) pi, breane g la c ie r bukt(a) bay, bight, cove by(en) town d a l(en) v a lle y e lv (a ) river, stream fjell(et) pi. fjella mountain fjo rd (e n ) fiord, firth fly(a) pi. flyene barren, level or undulating ground fonn(a) snowfield or glacier halvj^y(a) p eninsula haam(a) harbor, haven huk(en) hook, headland i s (en) ic e kapp(et) cape k o ll(e n ) rounded h ill or crag lagune (laguna) lagoon lan d ( e t) land mark(a) field, ground n e s(e t) p o in t nord(re ) north, northern odde(en) point, cape pynt(en) p o in t renne (renna) lane, channel rygg(en) ridge, range sj^ (e n ) sea, lake sk ard (et) pass stein(en) pi. steinane stone, rock stra n d (a ) strand, shore sund(et) sound, strait s^ r(e ) south, southern topp(en) pi. toppane peak, summit vatn(et) pi. vatna lak e v e s t( re ) west, western v ik (a) creek, cove, bay vag(en) protected bay jdy(a) is la n d IV Spitsbergen, meaning "sharp mountains," is the name which was first given to the islands by the Dutch explorer Barents in 1596, According to official Norwegian usage ("The Place-Names of Svalbard", 1942, pp. 399-404» 4 1 7 ) Spitsbergen includes the islands of VestSpitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edge^ya, Barentsf(ya, and Prins Karls Borland, together with the small islands near each of these, for a total area of 61,600 square kilometers (23,785 square miles), Svalbard, meaning "cold coasts" in Norwegian, is the name for all the islands in the Arctic Ocean which were placed under Norwegian sovereignty by the Treaty of Paris, February 9, 1920, In addition to the islands of the Spitsbergen group, Svalbard includes Kvit^ya, Kong Karls land, Hopen, and Bjj^m/iîya, for a total of 62,405 square kilometers (24,095 square miles). Acknowledgments % t r i p to Sweden was made under th e au sp ices o f th e Foreign Field Research Program, Division of Earth Sciences, National Academy of Sciences — National Research Council, with financial support provided by the Geography Branch, Office of Naval Research. The expedition itse lf was financed mainly by Statens Naturvetenskapliga ForskningsrSd (the Swedish Natural Science Research Council), and significant contributions were also made by a number of other government and private organizations in Sweden and Finland, The glacial geological work in particular was supported by Svenska Sallskapet for Antropologi och Geografi (the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography), Special mention must be made of the help received from the Swedish Amy in the form of loans of clothing and equipment, to the Swedish Air Force for providing me with a reconnaissance flight over the field area and for taking air photographs in 1957» and to the Swedish Wavy for providing transport of equipment to Spitsbergen and transport of expedition members home. KommendBr (then Kommendorkapten) B, Lundvall, the captain of the Swedish minelayer "llvsnabben" in 1957» assisted in every possible way» particularly in providing personnel for unloading the ship and in arranging for our small boat to be repaired. Transport to Nordaustlandet in 1957 was provided by the Finnish research ship "Aranda", which was carrying out oceanographic work in the Barents Sea and north of Spitsbergen on an expedition from Kerentutkimuslaitos (The Institute of Marine Research) in Helsinki, under the command of Professor I. Hela, We are indebted to the staff of "Aranda" for assistance in landing our expedition supplies, and I am obliged to Dr. H. Ignatius for allowing me to use some of the echo-sounding data obtained. Transport for ray assistant and me in 1958 was in part provided by Norsk Polarinstitutt, and in both summers 0. Birketvedt, Sysselmannen pa Svalbard (the Governor of Svalbard) provided transport. On the way north in 1957 overnight accomodatiœi in Longyearbyen was provided by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani A/5, and in October 1957 Sysselmannen Birketvedt provided accomodations for two weeks. The Swedish-Finnish-Svn.ss I.G.Y. Expedition to Nordaustlandet, 1957-53» led by Professor G. Liljequist of Uppsala Universitets Heteorologiska Institution, kindly allowed us to use their base at Kinnvika as headquarters, and I» especially, enjoyed their hospitality while living there in September and October 1957. 1 am indebted to VI all members of both expeditions for assistance in the field, but particular mention must be made of Dr. E. Palosuo of our expedition and E, Tollén and Dr. M. Aro of Liljequists* group for help in 1957, and of Fil, Kand. R. Bergstrom of our expedition for serving as my field assistant in 1958. Various items of field equipment were loaned by Stockholms Universitets Geografiska Institution and by the Department of Geology, The Ohio State University, Funds for the purchase of air photographs were provided by the latter department and by the Ohio Academy of Science. The staff of Norsk Polarinstitutt, particularly T. S. Winsnes and K. Z. Lundquist, assisted in many ways, both in the field and in O slo, Support during the working up of results has come from many sources. From January to June, 1959 I held a Bownocker Fellowship in the Department of Geology, The Ohio State University, From November 1959 through January 1961 I worked under National Science Foundation Grant No, 121,15/340 (I.G.Y. Interdisciplinary Research Project 21.15), administered through The Ohio State University Research Foundation (Project No, 1037) and the Institute of Polar Studies, Travel funds to enable me to go to Sweden a second time were provided by the Geography Branch, Office of Naval Research, The radiocarbon dating was carried out by Fil, Lie. Ingrid 01sson at Uppsala Universitets Fysiska Institution and the radium- uranium dating has been done by Professor W, S, Broecker at Lamont Geological Observatory, Columbia University, The index of refraction determinations have been carried out by J, Hanssen through the kindness vii of Professor A.