Freeze-thaw or frost shatter

What is freeze-thaw? Freeze-thaw or frost shatter are terms used to describe the way in which bare rock is broken away from a mountainside by the seasonal freezing and thawing of water.

Shattered rock broken by freeze-thaw weathering.

The process of breaking up a rock naturally is most commonly a result of cold weather. Imagine it has rained and soaked a rock. Some water has got down into cracks between blocks. It is winter, and overnight it gets very cold and freezes. The water turns to ice. Ice takes up more space than water and as it forms it pushes the surface block out from the main rocks. Later on these loosened blocks fall away.

Video: Freeze-thaw weathering.

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