Greenland.—Of the existence of warm conditions during Miocene times, geology affords us abundant evidence. I shall quote the opinion of Sir Charles Lyell on this point:—
“We know,” says Sir Charles, “that Greenland was not always covered with snow and ice; for when we examine the tertiary strata of Disco Island (of the Upper Miocene period), we discover there a multitude of fossil plants which demonstrate that, like many other parts of the arctic regions, it formerly enjoyed a mild and genial climate. Among the fossils brought from that island, lat. 70° N., Professor Heer has recognised Sequoia Landsdorfii, a coniferous species which flourished throughout a great part of Europe in the Miocene period. The same plant has been found fossil by Sir John Richardson within the Arctic Circle, far to the west on the Mackenzie River, near the entrance of Bear River; also by some Danish naturalists in Iceland, to the east. The Icelandic surturband or lignite, of this age, has also yielded a rich harvest of plants, more than thirty-one of them, according to Steenstrup and Heer, in a good state of preservation, and no less than fifteen specifically identical with Miocene plants of Europe. Thirteen of the number are arborescent; and amongst others is a tulip-tree (Liriodendron), with its fruit and characteristic leaves, a plane (Platanus), a walnut, and a vine, affording unmistakable evidence of a climate in the parallel of the Arctic Circle which precludes the supposition of glaciers then existing in the neighbourhood, still less any general crust of continental ice like that of Greenland.”[192]
At a meeting of the British Association, held at Nottingham in August 1866, Professor Heer read a valuable paper on the “Miocene Flora of North Greenland.” In this paper some remarkable conclusions as to the probable temperature of Greenland during the Miocene period were given.
Upwards of sixty different species brought from Atanekerdluk, a place on the Waigat opposite Disco, in lat. 70° N., have been examined by him.
A steep hill rises on the coast to a height of 1,080 feet, and at this level the fossil plants are found. Large quantities of wood in a fossilized or carbonized condition lie about. Captain Inglefield observed one trunk thicker than a man’s body standing upright. The leaves, however, are the most important portion of the deposit. The rock in which they are found is a sparry iron ore, which turns reddish brown on exposure to the weather. In this rock the leaves are found, in places packed closely together, and many of them are in a very perfect condition. They give us a most valuable insight into the nature of the vegetation which formed this primeval forest.
He arrives at the following conclusions:—
1. The fossilized plants of Atanekerdluk cannot have been drifted from any great distance. They must have grown on the spot where they were found.
This is shown—
(a) By the fact that Captain Inglefield and Dr. Ruik observed trunks of trees standing upright.
(b) By the great abundance of the leaves, and the perfect state of preservation in which they are found.