British Universities East Greenland Expedition, 1974

Extract

This expedition to the Blosseville Kyst area of east Greenland was wholly geological, comprising several groups brought together under the leadership of Professor P. E. Brown of Aberdeen University. It aimed to follow up geological discoveries which had been made in 1971 by expeditions from Cambridge and Sheffield, and also to pursue several new lines of research directed primarily at relating the sediments and volcanic rocks in east Greenland to the birth of the North Atlantic Ocean. The expedition chartered mv Signalhorn from Martin Karlsen AS of Brandal, Norway, for a period of 52 days; after some delay, due to a mechanical emergency in the North Sea, she sailed from Aberdeen on 20 July. The journey was slow and rough and featured an abortive attempt to take the shorter route round north-east Iceland. On 26 July the east Greenland coast was sighted at lat 68 N in fine weather. Aputitq and the Kangerdlugssuaq area were beset by heavy pack ice, but good progress was made northwards along Blosseville Kyst through moderately open water about five miles offshore.