The Journal of Geology, January-February 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazine of Geology and Related SciencesVarious
Science
The Journal of Geology, January-February 1893: A Semi-Quarterly Magazine of Geology and Related Sciences
Various
Geology -- Periodicals
(1.) It would be arbitrary to name any definite distance to which
the ice must recede in order to constitute its re-advance a distinct
ice epoch. It would be not so much a question of miles as a question
of proportions. Considering this point alone, we presume it would
be agreed that an ice-sheet should have suffered the loss of a very
considerable proportion of its mass, and that it should have dwindled
to proportions very much less than those subsequently attained, before
its re-advance could properly be called a separate glacial epoch. To be
specific, if the North American ice-sheet, after its maximum extension,
retreated so far as to free the whole of the United States from ice,
we should be inclined to regard a re-advance as marking a distinct
ice epoch of the same glacial period, if in such re-advance the ice
reached an extension comparable with that of the earlier ice-sheet.
Especially should we be inclined to refer the second ice advance to a
second glacial epoch, if it, as well as the preceding retreat, were
accompanied by favoring phases of some or all the other three elements
entering into the notion of a glacial epoch. In this statement we
do not overlook the fact that a northerly region--as Labrador or
Greenland--might be continuously covered with ice throughout the time
of the two glaciations of the more southerly regions. But this is not
regarded as a sufficient reason for discarding the notion of duality.
Greenland has very likely been experiencing continuous glaciation since
a time antedating that of our first glacial deposits. The renewal
to-day of glaciation comparable in extent to that of the glacial period
would certainly be regarded as a distinct glacial epoch, if not a
distinct glacial period, even though Greenland's glaciation may not
have been interrupted. Scandinavia and Switzerland have probably not
been freed from ice since the glacial period. Their snow and ice fields
are probably the direct descendants of the ice fields of the glacial
period. An expansion of the existing bodies of ice in these countries
to their former dimensions, would constitute a new glacial epoch, if
not a new glacial period. Analogous subdivisions in pre-Pleistocene
formations have been frequently recognized.
(2) The application of the time element is hardly susceptible of
quantitative statement. We are inclined to think that it would be
generally agreed that, with a given amount of recession of the ice, its
re-advance would be more properly regarded as a distinct glacial epoch
if the interval which had elapsed since the first advance were long.
Whether a longer time between the separate advances might reduce the
amount of recession necessary in order to constitute the second advance
a second epoch, we are not prepared to assert; but we are inclined to
think it might.
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