An ice wedge is a crack in the ground formed by a narrow or thin piece of ice that measures up to 3–4 metres wide at ground level and extends downwards into the ground up to several metres. During the winter months, the water in the ground freezes and expands. Once temperatures reach -17 degrees Celsius or lower, the ice that has already formed acts like a solid and expands to form cracks in the surface known as ice wedges. As this process continues over many years, ice wedges can grow up to the size of a swimming pool. The ice wedge usually appears in a polygonal pattern known as ice wedge polygons.
Famous quotes containing the words ice and/or wedge:
“Every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes. When the warmer days come, they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery, as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end, and within a few days see it rapidly going out. So the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.”
—Ernest Becker (1924–1974)