Cryosuction is the concept of negative pressure in freezing liquids so that more liquid is sucked into the freezing zone. In soil, the transformation of liquid water to ice in the
soil pore
The pore space of soil contains the liquid and gas phases of soil, i.e., everything but the solid phase that contains mainly minerals of varying sizes as well as organic compounds.
In order to understand porosity better a series of equations hav ...
s causes water to migrate through soil pores to the freezing zone through
capillary action
Capillary action (sometimes called capillarity, capillary motion, capillary rise, capillary effect, or wicking) is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of external forces like Gravitation, gravity.
The effe ...
.
History of discovery
In 1930, Stephen Taber demonstrated that liquid water migrates towards the freeze line within soil. He showed that other liquids, such as
benzene
Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...
, which contracts when it freezes, also produce frost heave.
Fine-grained soils such as clays and silts enable greater negative pressures than more coarse-grained soils due to the smaller pore size. In
periglacial
Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial", referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing and freezing, very often in areas of permafrost. The meltwater may refreeze in ice wedg ...
environments, this mechanism is highly significant and it is the predominant process in
ice lens
Ice lenses are bodies of ice formed when moisture, diffusion, diffused within soil or rock (geology), rock, accumulates in a localized zone. The ice initially accumulates within small collocated pores or pre-existing crack, and, as long as the co ...
formation in
permafrost
Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...
areas.
As of 2001, several models for ice-lens formation by cryosuction existed, among others the
hydrodynamic
In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in moti ...
model and the
Premelting model, many of them based on the
Clausius–Clapeyron relation
The Clausius–Clapeyron relation, in chemical thermodynamics, specifies the temperature dependence of pressure, most importantly vapor pressure, at a discontinuous phase transition between two phases of matter of a single constituent. It is nam ...
with various assumptions, yielding cryosuction potentials of 11 to 12 atm per degree Celsius below zero depending on pore size.
In 2023, experiments from the
ETH Zurich
ETH Zurich (; ) is a public university in Zurich, Switzerland. Founded in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, the university focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. ETH Zurich ran ...
were published, in which the process could be observed between glass slides in a
confocal microscope
Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a sp ...
. In
single-crystal experiments the rate of ice growth was slow, but with
polycrystalline
A crystallite is a small or even microscopic crystal which forms, for example, during the cooling of many materials. Crystallites are also referred to as grains.
Bacillite is a type of crystallite. It is rodlike with parallel longulites.
S ...
ice there were many more channels to suck in water to grow ice. How
solutes
In chemistry, a solution is defined by IUPAC as "A liquid or solid phase containing more than one substance, when for convenience one (or more) substance, which is called the solvent, is treated differently from the other substances, which are ...
in the water influence cryosuction is still unexplored.
[Katherine Wrigh]
Liquid Veins Give Ice Its Road-Wrecking Power
November 16, 2023, Physics Magazine 16, 194
See also
*
Pore water pressure
Pore water pressure (sometimes abbreviated to pwp) refers to the pressure of groundwater held within a soil or Rock (geology), rock, in gaps between particles (soil pore, pores). Pore water pressures below the phreatic level of the groundwater are ...
*
Suction
Suction is the day-to-day term for the movement of gases or liquids along a pressure gradient with the implication that the movement occurs because the lower pressure pulls the gas or liquid. However, the forces acting in this case do not orig ...
References
External links
CryosuctionCryosphere glossary,
National Snow and Ice Data Center
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. NSIDC archives and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data and also maintains information ab ...
, Canada, accessed 22 November 2023
Geography of the Arctic
Geomorphology
Hydrology
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