Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Frost weathering is a collective term for several mechanical weathering processes induced by stresses created by the freezing of water into ice. The term serves as an umbrella term for a variety of processes, such as frost shattering, frost wedging, and cryofracturing.
The term "felsenmeer" comes from the German meaning "sea of rock". In a felsenmeer or blockfield, freeze-thaw weathering has broken up the top layer of the rock, covering the underlying rock formation with jagged, angular boulders. Freeze-thaw or frost weathering occurs when water that is trapped along microcracks in rock expands and contracts ...
Two types of physical breakdown are freeze-thaw weathering and thermal fracturing. Pressure release can also cause weathering without temperature change. It is usually much less important than chemical weathering, but can be significant in subarctic or alpine environments. [5] Furthermore, chemical and physical weathering often go hand in hand.
In addition to chemical and physical weathering of hydraulic action, freeze-thaw cycles, and more, there is a suite of processes which have long been considered to contribute significantly to bedrock channel erosion include plucking, abrasion (due to both bedload and suspended load), solution, and cavitation.
Freeze–thaw weathering is caused by moisture freezing inside cracks in rock. Upon freezing its volume expands, causing large forces which cracks spall off the outer surface. As this cycle repeats the outer surface repeatedly undergoes spalling, resulting in weathering.
Higher altitudes are associated with more periglacial activity due to colder temperatures, increased freeze-thaw cycles, and greater exposure to wind and snow accumulation. These conditions favor processes like frost heaving, solifluction, and ice wedge formation, which are hallmarks of periglacial environments.
Physical causes. Topography: Slope aspect and gradient; Geological factors: Discontinuity factors (dip spacing, asperity, dip and length) Physical characteristics of the rock (rock strength etc.) Tectonic activity: Seismic activity (earthquakes) Volcanic eruption; Physical weathering: Thawing; Freeze-thaw; Soil erosion; Hydrogeological factors ...
It is a complex of processes that includes freeze–thaw action (weathering by the alternate freezing and melting of ice), mass movement (the downhill movement of substances under gravity), and erosion by meltwater which is the main agent of the surroundings' influence. [5] A seasonal snowpatch on the south east side of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia.