IS FROST ACTION REALLY ONLY HYDRATION SHATTERING? A REVIEW

The ability of water freezing in cracks to split rocks is in doubt, mainly because the conditions required of water only (with no air in pores nor dissolved in water) confined in a closed system, with temperature close to -22?C and falling, and with enclosing rock strong enough to resist are rarely if ever satisfied in nature. The word "frost" has long been used in this context historically yet often too casually without confirming data or clear statement of real meaning. Experiments support the process of water freezing into ice in previously formed joints, bedding planes, and other planes of weakness capable of prying loose grains and small flakes, but not of detaching or lifting blocks nor of cracking solid rock.

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