Geometrical aspects of sorted patterned ground in recurrently frozen soil.
A model for sorted patterned ground shows that some types arise from density-driven Rayleigh free convection that occurs during thawing of water-saturated recurrently frozen soils. The regularly spaced convection cells result in an uneven melting of the underlying ice front. Frost action causes stones to be upthrusted and to form in a pattern on the ground surface that mirrors the corrugation in the underlying ice front. The implications of the water circulation direction in the cells on the sorting process are considered.
Gleason
K J
KJ
Krantz
W B
WB
Caine
N
N
George
J H
JH
Gunn
R D
RD