UPDATING per new & easier guidelines.....**** This is an Earthcache.. no container but interesting site to ponder & answer questions below... *** After reading the info and walking around the rock, message me your answers... AND add picture of yourself or group to your log... Thank you & enjoy your visit...
- How long is this crack? OR How wide is the widest area of the crack? (Choose one).
- What is the percent of expansion of ice when water freezes?
- Looking at crack & rock, will gravity have any effect on the final break?
Now, you are asking yourself, What is cryofracturing? Well, it is a fancy name for frost weathering, ice wedging, and the freeze and thaw cycle…
The coordinates will bring you to a great example of this process… I have seen many small examples and even the after effects of occurrence, where the rock has split completely and fallen off original rock..
But this rock is showing the cryofracturing in the process…
Cryofracturing is the freeze-thaw cycle, it is a process of erosion that happens in cold areas where ice forms... It is caused by the 10% expansion of ice when water freezes, which places a considerable stress on anything containing water as it freezes… A crack in a rock can fill with water which then freezes as the temperature drops… As the ice expands, it pushes the crack apart, making it wider and making deeper cracks… When the temperature rises again, the ice melts, and the water fills the newer parts of the crack… The water freezes again as the temperature falls, and the expansion of the ice causes further expansion to the crack… This process continues until the rock breaks…
Sometimes large plants and trees help this process, but this is not happening here… even though, the crack is holding small amounts of debris, from windblown leaves & tiny animals, it is making small amounts of soil…this is helping hold the water longer to fill in cracks that occur during the freeze-thaw process…
References:
Wikipedia Weathering
www.ssc.education.ed.ac.uk>BSL Freeze-Thaw Weathering