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IX.
The Glacial Period and the Earth-Movement Hypothesis. ⁵²

Perhaps no portion of the geological record has been more assiduously studied during the last quarter of a century than its closing chapters. We are now in possession of manifold data concerning the interpretation of which there seems to be general agreement. But while that is the case, there remain, nevertheless, certain facts or groups of facts which are variously accounted for. Nor have all the phenomena of the Pleistocene period received equal attention from those who have recently speculated and generalised on the subject of Pleistocene climate and geography. Yet, we may be sure, geologists are not likely to arrive at any safe conclusions as to the conditions that obtained in Pleistocene times, unless the evidence be candidly considered in all its bearings. No interpretation of that evidence which does not recognise every outstanding group of facts can be expected to endure. It may be possible to frame a plausible theory to account for some particular conspicuous phenomena, but should that theory leave unexplained a residuum of less conspicuous but nevertheless well-proved facts, then, however strongly it may be fortified, it must assuredly fall.

As already remarked, there are many phenomena in the interpretation of which geologists are generally agreed. It is, for example, no longer disputed that in Pleistocene times vast sheets of ice – continental mers de glace– covered broad areas in Europe and North America, and that extensive snow-fields and large local glaciers existed in many mountain-regions where snow-fields and glaciers are now unknown, or only meagrely developed. It is quite unnecessary, however, that I should give even the slightest sketch of the aspect presented by the glaciated tracts of our hemisphere at the climax of the Ice Age. The geographical distribution and extent of the old snow-fields, glaciers, and ice-sheets is matter now of common knowledge. It will be well, however, to understand clearly the nature of the conditions which obtained at the climax of glacial cold – at that stage, namely, when the Alpine glaciers reached their greatest development, and when so much of Europe was cased in snow and ice. This we shall best do by comparing the present with the past. Now in our day the limits of perennial snow are attained at heights that necessarily vary with the latitude. This is shown as follows: —

Thus in traversing Europe from north to south the snow-line may be said to rise from 3000 feet to 11,000 feet in round numbers. It is possible from such data to draw across the map a series of isochional lines, or lines of equal perennial snow, and this has been done by my friend, Professor Penck of Vienna.⁵³ It will be understood that each isochional line traverses those regions above which the line of névé is estimated to occur at the same height. Thus the isochional line of 1000 metres (3280 feet) runs from the north of Norway down to lat. 64° on the west coast, whence it must pass west to the south of Iceland. The line of 1500 metres (4920 ft.) is traced from the north end of the Urals in a westerly direction. It then follows the back-bone of the Scandinavian peninsula, passes over to Scotland, and thence strikes west along lat. 55°. For each of these lines good data are obtainable. The line of 2000 metres (6560 ft.) is, however, hypothetical. It is estimated to extend from the Ural Mountains, about the lat. of 57°, over the mountains of middle Germany and above the north of France. The line of 2500 metres (8200 ft.) passes from the southern termination of the Urals, in lat. 51°, to the east Carpathians, thence along the north face of the Alps, thereafter south-west across the Cevennes to the north-west end of the Pyrenees; and thence above the Cantabrian and the Portuguese Highlands to the coast in lat. 39°. The line of 3000 metres (9840 ft.) is estimated to occur above the Caspian Sea, near lat. 44°, and extends west through the north end of the Caucasus to the Balkans. Thence it is traced north-west to the Alps, south-west to the Pyrenees, which range it follows to the west, and thereafter sweeps south above the coast at Cadiz. The line of 3500 metres (11,480 ft.) runs from the Caucasus south-west across Asia Minor to the Lebanon Mountains; thence it follows the direction of the Mediterranean, and traverses Morocco above the north face of the Atlas range. Finally the line of 4000 metres (13,120 feet) is estimated to trend in the same general direction as the last-mentioned line, but, of course, further to the south. Although these isochional lines are to some extent conjectural, yet the data upon which they are based are sufficiently numerous and well-known to prevent any great error, and we may admit that the lines represent with tolerable accuracy the general position of the snow-line over our Continent. So greatly has our knowledge of the glaciation of Europe increased during recent years, that the height of the snow-line of the Glacial period has been determined by MM. Simony, Partsch, Penck, and Höfer. Their method is simple enough. They first ascertain the lowest parts of a glaciated region from which independent glaciers have flowed. This gives the maximum height of the old snow-line. Next they determine the lowest point reached by such glaciers. It is obvious that the snow-line would occur higher up than that, but at a lower level than the actual source of the glaciers; and thus the minimum height of the former snow-line is approximately ascertained. The lowest level from which independent glaciers formerly flowed, and the terminal point reached by the highest-lying glaciers having been duly ascertained, it is possible to determine with sufficient accuracy the mean height of the old snow-line. The required data are best obtained, as one might have expected, in the Pyrenees and amongst the mountains of middle and southern Europe. In those regions the snow-line would seem to have been some 3000 feet or so lower than now. From such data Professor Penck has constructed a map showing the isochional lines of the Glacial period. These lines are, I need hardly say, only approximations, but they are sufficiently near the truth to bring out the contrast between the Ice Age and the present. Thus the isochional of 1000 metres, which at present lies above northern Scandinavia, was pushed south to the latitude of southern France and north Italy; while the isochional of 2000 metres (now overlying the extreme north of France and north Germany) passed in glacial times over the northern part of the Mediterranean.⁵⁴

Isochional lines are not isotherms. Their height and direction are determined not only by temperature, but by the amount and distribution of the snow-fall. Nevertheless, the position of the snow-line in Europe during the Ice Age enables us to form a rough estimate of the temperature. At present in middle Europe the temperature falls 1° F. for every 300 feet of ascent. Hence if we take the average depression of the snow-line in glacial times at 3000 feet, that would correspond approximately to a lowering of the temperature by 10°.⁵⁵ This may not appear to be much, but, as Penck points out, were the mean annual temperature to be lowered to that extent it would bring the climate of northern Norway down to southern Germany, and the climate of Sweden to Austria and Moravia, while that of the Alps would be met with over the basin of the Mediterranean.

Let it be noted further that this lowering of the temperature – this displacement of climatic zones, was experienced over the whole continent – extending on the one hand south into Africa, and on the other east into Asia. But while the conditions in northern and central Europe were markedly glacial, further south only more or less isolated snow-capped mountains and local glaciers appeared – such, for example, as those of the Sierra Nevada, the Apennines, Corsica, the Atlas, the Lebanon, etc. In connection with these facts we may note also that the Azores were reached by floating ice; and I need only refer in a word to the evidence of cold wet conditions as furnished by the plant and animal remains of the Pleistocene tufas, alluvia, and peat of southern Europe. Again in north Africa and Syria we find, in desiccated regions, widespread fluviatile accumulations, which, in the opinion of a number of competent observers, are indicative of rainy conditions contemporaneous with the Glacial period of Europe.

When we compare the conditions of the Ice Age with those of the present we are struck with the fact that the former were only an exaggeration of the latter. The development of glaciation was in strict accordance with existing conditions. Thus in Pleistocene times North America was more extensively glaciated than northern Europe, just as to-day Greenland shows more snow and ice than Scandinavia. No traces of glaciation have been observed as yet in northern Asia or in northern Alaska, and to-day the only glaciers and ice-sheets that exist in northern regions are confined to the formerly glaciated areas. Again, in Pleistocene Europe glacial phenomena were more strongly developed in the west than in the east. Large glaciers, for example, existed in central France, and a considerable ice-flow poured into the basin of the Douro. But in the same latitudes of eastern Europe we meet with few or no traces of ice-action. Again, the Vosges appear to have been more severely glaciated than the mountains of middle Germany; and so likewise the old glaciers of the western Alps were on a much more extensive scale than those towards the east end of the chain. Similar contrasts may be noted at the present day. Thus we find glaciers in Norway under lat. 60°, while in the Ural Mountains in the same latitude there is none. The glaciers of the western Alps, again, are larger than those in the eastern part of the chain. The Caucasus region, it is true, has considerable glaciers, but then the mountains are higher.

Now turn for a moment to North America. The eastern area was covered by one immense ice-sheet, while in the mountainous region of the west gigantic glaciers existed. In our own day we see a similar contrast. In the north-east lies Greenland well-nigh drowned in ice, while the north-west region on the other hand, although considerably higher and occurring in the same latitude, holds only local glaciers. We may further note that at the present day very dry regions, even when these are relatively lofty and in high latitudes, such as the uplands of Siberia, contain no glaciers. And the same was the case in the Glacial period. These facts are sufficient to show that the conditions of glacial times bore an intimate relation to those that now obtain. Could the requisite increase of precipitation and lowering of temperature take place, we cannot doubt that ice-sheets and glaciers would reappear in precisely the same regions where they were formerly so extensively developed. No change in the relative elevation of the land would be required – increased precipitation accompanied by a general lowering of the snow-line for 3000 or 3500 feet would suffice to reintroduce the Ice Age.

From the foregoing considerations we may conclude: – (1) That the cold of the Glacial period was a general phenomenon, due to some widely-acting cause – a cause sufficient to influence contemporaneously the climate of Europe and North America; (2) that glaciation in our continent increased in intensity from east to west, and from south to north; (3) that where now we have the greatest rainfall, in glacial times the greatest snow-fall took place, and the snow tended most to accumulate; (4) that in the extreme south of Europe, and in north Africa and west Asia, increased rain precipitation accompanied lowering of temperature, from which it may be inferred that precipitation in glacial times was greater generally than it is now.

Having considered the climatic conditions that obtained at the climax of the Glacial period, I have next to recapitulate what is known as to the climatic changes of Pleistocene times. It is generally admitted that the glacial conditions of which I have been speaking were repeated twice, some say three times, during the Pleistocene period; while others maintain that even a larger number of glacial episodes may have occurred. Two glacial epochs, at all events, have been recognised generally both in Europe and North America. These were separated by an interglacial stage of more genial conditions, the evidence for which is steadily increasing. No one now calls in question the existence of interglacial deposits, but, as their occurrence is rather a stumbling-block in the way of certain recently resuscitated hypotheses, some attempt has been made to minimise their importance – to explain them away, in fact. It has been suggested, for example – (and the suggestion is by no means new) – that the deposits in question only show that there were local oscillations during the advance and retreat of the old ice-sheets and glaciers. This, however, is not the view of those who have observed and described interglacial beds – who know the nature of the organic remains which they have yielded, and the conditions under which the beds must have been accumulated. I need not refer to the interglacial deposits of our own country further than to remark that they certainly cannot be explained away in that summary fashion. The peat and freshwater beds that lie between the lower and upper tills in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, for example, are of themselves sufficient to prove a marked and decided change of climate. No mere temporary retreat and re-advance of the ice-sheet will account for their occurrence. The lower till is unquestionably the bottom-moraine of an ice-sheet which, in that region, flowed towards the east. When the geographical position of the deposits in question is considered it becomes clear that an easterly flow of ice in Mid-Lothian proves beyond gainsaying that during the accumulation of the lower till all Scotland was drowned in ice. But when water once more flowed over the land-surface – when a temperate flora, composed of hazels and other plants, again appeared, it is obvious that the ice-sheet had already vanished from central Scotland. This is not the case of a mere temporary recession of the ice-front. It is impossible to believe that a temperate or even cold-temperate flora could have flourished in central Scotland at a period when thick glacier-ice mantled any portion of our Lowlands. Again, in the upper till we read the evidence of a recurrence of extreme glacial conditions – when central Scotland was once more overwhelmed by confluent ice-streams coming from the Highlands and the southern Uplands. Similar evidence of recurrent glacial conditions, I need hardly remind you, has been detected in other parts of the country. We are justified, then, in maintaining that our interglacial beds point to distinct oscillations of climate – oscillations which imply a long lapse of time. Continental observers are equally convinced that the interglacial epoch, of which so many interesting relics have been preserved over a wide region, was marked at its climax by a temperate climate and endured for a long period. The interglacial beds of northern and central Europe form everywhere marked horizons in the glacial series.

Geologists sometimes forget that in every region where glacial accumulations are well developed, good observers had recognised an upper and lower series of “drift-deposits” long before the idea of two separate glacial epochs had presented itself. Thus, in north Germany, so clearly is the Upper differentiated from the Lower Diluvium that the two series had been noted and mapped as separate accumulations for years before geologists had formulated the theory of successive ice-epochs.⁵⁶ The division of the German Diluvium into an upper and a lower series is as firmly established as any other well-marked division in historical geology. The stratigraphical evidence has been much strengthened, however, by the discovery between upper and lower boulder-clays of true interglacial beds, containing lignite, peat, diatomaceous earth, and marine, brackish, and freshwater molluscs, fish, etc., and now and again bones of Pleistocene mammals.⁵⁷ A similar strongly-marked division characterises the glacial accumulations of Sweden, as has been clearly shown by De Geer,⁵⁸ who thinks that the older and younger epochs of glaciation were separated by a protracted period of interglacial conditions. In short, evidence of a break in the glacial succession has been traced at intervals across the whole width of the Continent, from the borders of the North Sea to central Russia. M. Krischtafowitsch has recently detected in the neighbourhood of Moscow⁵⁹ certain fossiliferous interglacial beds, the flora and fauna of which indicate a warmer and moister climate than the present. The interglacial stage, he says, must have been of long duration, and separated in Russia as in western Europe two distinct epochs of glaciation.

No mere temporary retreat and re-advance of the ice-front can account for these phenomena. The occurrence of remains of the great pachyderms at Rixdorf, near Berlin, and the character of the flora met with in the interglacial beds of north Germany and Russia are incompatible with glacial conditions in the low-grounds of northern Europe. The interglacial beds, described by Dr. C. Weber⁶⁰ as occurring near Grünenthal, in Holstein, are among the more recent discoveries of this kind. These deposits rest upon boulder-clay, and are overlaid by another sheet of the same character, and belong, according to Weber, to “that great interglacial period which preceded the last ice-sheet of northern Europe.” The section shows 8 feet of peat resting on freshwater clay, 2 feet thick, which is underlaid by some 10 feet of “coral sand,” with bryozoa. The flora and fauna have a distinctly temperate facies. It is no wonder, then, that Continental geologists are generally inclined to admit that north Germany and the contiguous countries have been invaded at least twice by the ice-sheets of two separate and distinct glacial epochs. This is not all, however. While every observer acknowledges that the Diluvium is properly divided into an upper and a lower series, there are some geologists who have described the occurrence of three, and even more boulder-clays – the one clearly differentiated from the other, and traceable over wide areas. Is each of these to be considered the product of an independent ice-sheet, or do they only indicate more or less extensive oscillations of the ice-front? The boulder-clays are parted from each other by thick beds of sand and clay, in some of which fossils have occasionally been detected. It is quite possible that such stratified beds were deposited during a temporary retreat of the ice-front, which when it re-advanced covered them up with its bottom-moraine. On the other hand, the phenomena are equally explicable on the assumption that each boulder-clay represents a separate epoch of glaciation. Until the stratified beds have yielded more abundant traces of the life of the period, our judgment as to the conditions implied by them must be suspended. It is worthy of note in this connection, however, that in North America the existence of one prolonged interglacial epoch has been well established, while distinct evidence is forthcoming of what Chamberlin discriminates as “stages of deglaciation and re-advancing ice.”⁶¹

When we turn to the Alpine Lands, we find that there also the occurrence of former interglacial conditions has been recognised. The interglacial deposits, as described by Heer and others, are well known. These form as definite a geological horizon as the similar fossiliferous zone in the Diluvium of northern Germany. The lignites, as Heer pointed out, represent a long period of time, and this is still further illustrated by the fact that considerable fluviatile erosion supervened between the close of the first and the advent of the later glacial epoch. No mere temporary retreat and re-advance of the ice will account for the phenomena. Let us for a moment consider the conditions under which the accumulations in question were laid down. The glacial deposits underlying the lignite beds contain, amongst other erratics, boulders which have come from the upper valley of the Rhine. This means, of course, that the ancient glacier of the Rhine succeeded in reaching the Lake of Zurich; and it is well known that it extended at the same time to Lake Constance. That glacier, therefore exceeded sixty miles in length. One cannot doubt that the climatic conditions implied by this great extension were excessive, and quite incompatible with the appearance in the low-grounds of Switzerland of such a flora as that of the lignites. The organic remains of the lignite beds indicate a climate certainly not less temperate than that which at present characterises the district round the Lake of Zurich. We may safely infer, therefore, that during interglacial times the glaciers of the Alps were not more extensively developed than at present. Again, as the lignites are overlaid by glacial deposits, it is obvious that the Rhine glacier once more reached Lake Zurich – in other words, there was a return of the excessive climate that induced the first great advance of that and other Swiss glaciers. That these advances were really due to extreme climatic conditions is shown by the fact that it was only under such conditions that the Scandinavian flora could have invaded the low-grounds of Europe, and entered Switzerland. It is impossible, therefore, that the interglacial flora could have flourished in Switzerland while the immigration of these northern plants was taking place.

Lignites of the same age as those of Dürnten and Utznach occur in many places both on the north and south sides of the Alpine chain. At Imberg, near Sonthofen, in Bavaria, for example, they are described by Penck⁶² as being underlaid and overlaid by thick glacial accumulations. The deposits in question form a terrace along the flanks of the hills, at a height of 700 feet above the Iller. The flora of the lignite has not yet been fully studied, but it is composed chiefly of conifers, which must have grown near where their remains now occur – that is at 3000 feet, or thereabout, above the sea. It is incredible that coniferous forests could have flourished at that elevation during a glacial epoch. A lowering of the mean annual temperature by 3 °C. only would render the growth of trees at that height almost impossible, and certainly would be insufficient to cause the glaciers of Algau to descend to the foot of the mountains, as we know they did – a distance of at least twenty-four miles. The Imberg lignites, therefore, are evidence of a climate not less temperate than the present. More than this, there is clear proof that the interglacial stage was long continued, for during that epoch the Iller had time to effect very considerable erosion. The succession of changes shown by the sections near Sonthofen are as follows.

1. The Iller Valley is filled with glacier-ice which flows out upon the low-grounds at the base of the Alps.

2. The glacier retreats, and great sheets of shingle and gravel are spread over the valley.

3. Coniferous forests now grow over the surface of the gravels; and as the lignite formed of their remains attains a thickness of ten feet in all, it obviously points to the lapse of some considerable time.

4. Eventually the forests decay, and their débris is buried under new accumulations of shingle and gravel.

5. The Iller cuts its way down through all the deposits to depths of 680 to 720 feet.

6. A glacier again descends and fills the valley, but does not flow so far as that of the earlier glacial stage.

In this section, as in those at Dürnten and Utznach, we have conclusive evidence of two glacial epochs, sharply marked off the one from the other. Nor does that evidence stand alone, for at various points between Lake Geneva and the lower valley of the Inn similar interglacial deposits occur. Sometimes these appear at the foot of the mountains, as at Mörschweil on Lake Constance; sometimes just within the mountain area, as at Imberg; sometimes far in the heart of the Alpine Lands, as at Innsbruck. Professor Penck has further shown, and his observations have been confirmed by Brückner, Blaas, and Böhm, that massive sheets of fluviatile gravel are frequently met with throughout the valleys of the Alps, occupying interglacial positions. These gravels are exactly comparable to the interglacial gravels of the Sonthofen sections. And it has been demonstrated that they occur on two horizons, separated the one from the other by characteristic ground-moraine, or boulder-clay. The lower gravels rest on ground-moraine, and the upper gravels are overlaid by sheets of the same kind of glacial detritus. In short, three separate and distinct ground-moraines are recognised. The gravels, one cannot doubt, are simply the torrential and fluviatile deposits laid down before advancing and retreating glaciers; and it is especially to be noted that each sheet of gravel, after its accumulation, was much denuded and cut through by river-action. In a word, as Penck and others have shown, the valleys of Upper Bavaria have been occupied by glaciers at three successive epochs – each separated from the other by a period during which much river-gravel was deposited and great erosion of the valley-bottoms was effected.

On the Italian side of the Alps, similar evidence of climatic changes is forthcoming. The lignites and lacustrine strata of Val Gandino, and of Val Borlezza, as I have elsewhere shown,⁶³ are clearly of interglacial age. From these deposits many organic remains have been obtained – amongst the animals being Rhinoceros hemitœchus and R. leptorhinus. According to Sordelli, the plants indicate a climate as genial as that of the plains of Lombardy and Venetia, and warmer therefore than that of the upland valleys in which the interglacial beds occur. Professor Penck informs me that some time ago he detected evidence in the district of Lake Garda of three successive glacial epochs – the evidence being of the same character as that recognised in the valleys of the Bavarian Alps.

In the glaciated districts of France similar phenomena are met with. Thus in Cantal, according to M. Rames,⁶⁴ the glacial deposits belong to two separate epochs. The older morainic accumulations are scattered over the surface of the plateau of Archæan schistose rocks, and extend up the slopes of the great volcanic cone of that region to heights of 2300 to 3300 feet. One of the features of these accumulations are the innumerable gigantic erratics, known to the country folk as cimetière des enragés. Sheets of fluvio-glacial gravel are also associated with the moraines, and it is worthy of note that both have the aspect of considerable age – they have evidently been subjected to much denudation. In the valleys of the same region occurs a younger series of glacial deposits, consisting of conspicuous lateral and terminal moraines, which, unlike the older accumulations, have a very fresh and well-preserved appearance. With them, as with the older moraines, fluvio-glacial gravels are associated. M. Rames shows that the interval that supervened between the formation of the two series of glacial deposits must have been prolonged, for the valleys during that interval were in some places eroded to a depth of 900 feet. Not only was the volcanic massif deeply incised, but even the old plateau of crystalline rocks on which the volcanic cone reposes suffered extensive denudation in interglacial times. M. Rames further recognises that the second glacial epoch was marked by two advances of the valley-glaciers, separated by a marked episode of fusion, the evidence for which is conspicuous in the valley of the Cère.

The glacial and interglacial phenomena of Auvergne are quite analogous to those of Cantal. Dr. Julien has described the morainic accumulations of a large glacier that flowed from Mont Dore. After that glacier had retreated a prolonged period of erosion followed, when the morainic deposits were deeply trenched, and the underlying rocks cut into. In the valleys and hollows thus excavated freshwater beds occur, containing the relics of an abundant flora, together with the remains of elephant (E. meridionalis), rhinoceros (R. leptorhinus), hippopotamus, horse, cave-bear, hyæna, etc. – a fauna comparable to that of the Italian interglacial deposits. After the deposition of the freshwater beds, glaciers again descended the Auvergne valleys and covered the beds in question with their moraines.⁶⁵

According to the researches of Martins, Collomb, Garrigou, Piette, and Penck, there is clear evidence in the Pyrenees of two periods of glaciation, separated by an interval of much erosion and valley-excavation. Penck, indeed, has shown that the valleys of the Pyrenees have been occupied at three successive epochs by glaciers – each epoch being represented by its series of moraines and by terraces of fluvio-glacial detritus, which occur at successively lower levels.

I have referred in some detail to these discoveries of interglacial phenomena because they so strongly corroborate the conclusions arrived at a number of years ago by glacialists in our own country. Many additional examples might be cited from other parts of Europe, but those already given may serve to show that at least one epoch of interglacial conditions supervened during the Pleistocene period. Before leaving this part of my subject, however, I may point out the significant circumstance that long before much was known of glaciation, and certainly before the periodicity of ice-epochs had been recognised, Collomb had detected in the Vosges conspicuous evidence of two successive glaciations.⁶⁶