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Part 2 Regional Descriptions |
Nordaustlandet is the second largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. It has been generally inaccessible by ship because of polar pack ice except for the west coast, or in exceptional summers. Exploration has therefore been limited. The major part of the interior is covered by two large ice caps: Vestfonna and (the large) Austfonna which forms all of the southern coastline in the eastern part of the island. Pre-Devonian, mostly Precambrian outcrops of solid rock extend along the northern and northwestern seaboard. Wahlen-bergfjorden divides the west coast with post-Devonian rocks cropping out to the south of it. These have already been referred to in Chapter 5 so that the main object in this chapter is to outline what is known of the older rocks. Because of the ice caps covering the major part of the island, exposures, especially in the north and east, are often isolated on promontories along the highly indented coastline (Fig. 6.1).
After the early visit by Parry in 1828 research was largely by Swedish geologists with A.E. Nordenskiold's sledge journeys in 1861, 1866, 1869 and 1873.
A Swedish initiative led to the Russo-Swedish Arc of Meridian Survey along both sides of Hinlopenstretet. During the period 1899 to 1902 (De Geer 1923; Nathorst 1910) and later the Swedish-Norwegian expedition based at Sveanor in Murchisonfjorden (Kulling 1932) resulted in a thorough study of the Hecla Hoek rocks (Kulling 1934).
Alongside this were a series of multidisciplinary expeditions from Oxford University in 1924, 1935-36 and 1951. Sandford accompanied the
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