ICE IN RETREAT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1939, Page 8

ICE IN RETREAT

OBSERVATION OF GLACIERS ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR SPEIGHT. WORLD-WIDE TENDENCY. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. CANBERRA, January 12. In an address today at the Jubilee Congress of Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, Professor R. Speight, of Canterbury College, New Zealand said that the retreat of glaciers within recent years appeared to be almost worldwide in its incidence. Observations made up to the present indicated a general retreat of New Zealand glaciers within historical times he added in his paper “Some Aspects of Glaciation in Nev/ Zealand.” Professor Speight expressed regret however that little accurate observation had been carried out in connection with New Zealand glaciers.

Qualifying his remarks concerning the world wide retreat of glaciers, Professor Speight expressed regret however that little accurate observation had been carried out in connection with New Zealand glaciers. Qualifying his remarks concerning the world wide retreat of glaciers, Professor Speight pointed out that of the 160 glaciers in the European Alps, of which there were reasonably complete records from 1911 to 1928, about 75 per cent showed retreat whereas for the period 1931 to 1935, of 380 glaciers observed only 10 showed advance, and that only a few metres. There were isolated instances where advances occurred for a particular year, although for the four year period they showed retreat. In the case of Scandanavia, of 20 glaciers observed between 1912 and 1928, all showed retreat, and of 43 between 1931 and 1936 all showed retreat, although there appeared to be a period from 1931 and 1936 when advances occurred in some cases for several successive years, but there was a balance in favour of retreat for the whole period. During the period 193135 all the glaciers of Iceland, 27 in number, with one exception, showed retreat, and the advance of the exceptional glacier was only 56 metres as compared with a retreat of 250 in the case of some other glaciers. The glaciers of Greenland and Spitzenbergen also showed retreat. A similar recession occurred with glaciers of the Sierra Nevada and other high mountains of western United States, although there were a few slight advances. The Antarctic ice-sheet showed signs of recent retreat although this could not be stated definitely to be analageous to the retreat recorded from other* parts of. the world during the past few years. Professor Speight atributed the probable reason for the absence of indications of glaciation in New Zealand in late Palaeozoic, times to the fact that the country did not then form part of an extensive land surface. In the South Island the present glaciers were restricted to the main range of the Southern Alps? from the vicinity of Milford Sound. And the head of Lake Wakatipu to Arthur’s Pass, some 150 miles north-east, occurring in that section of the range with summits exceeding 7500 feet in height. In the North Island a glacier occupied the crater of Ruapehu and small overflows therefrom mantled the upper slopes of the volcano. Parts of the country now no longer glacierised, showed clear traces of the former presence of ice, added Professor Speight. In central and northwest Nelson, and specially along the flanks of the Spenser Mountains, at the head of the Wairau Rivers, and in the high country further north, occurred moraines, parched, scoured and scratched surfaces, and also in places on the valley floors, deposits of varved silt. Even the coastal ranges to the west showed signs of being retouched by ice.