Work

Bedrock Fracture by Ice Segregation in Cold Regions

Year: 2006

Type: article

Abstract: The volumetric expansion of freezing pore water is widely assumed to be a major cause of rock fracture in cold humid regions. Data from experiments simulating natural freezing regimes indicate that bedrock fracture results instead from ice segregation. Fracture depth and timing are also numerically simulated by coupling heat and mass transfer with a fracture model. The depth and geometry of fractures match those in Arctic permafrost and ice-age weathering profiles. This agreement supports a conceptual model in which ice segregation in near-surface permafrost leads progressively to rock fracture and heave, whereas permafrost degradation leads episodically to melt of segregated ice and rock settlement.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.1132127

Authors: Julian B. Murton, Rorik Peterson, Jean-Claude Ozouf

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Sussex, Laboratoire Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière, Université de Caen Normandie

Language: English

Topic: Climate change and permafrost

Subfield: Atmospheric Science

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2148670366

FWCI: 3.186

Cites: 19

Cited by: 423

Related to: 10