Frost cracking in a middle-latitude climate
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26485/BP/1963/12/13Keywords:
frost cracks, periglacial processes, middle-latitude climate, New HampshireAbstract
The paper describes frost cracks and hummocky microtopography observed at Dartmouth College’s Hanover Country Club in New Hampshire during the winter of 1958/59. These frost cracks, typically associated with polar and subpolar regions, occurred here in a middle-latitude, humid continental climate. The authors link their formation to unusually low winter temperatures combined with a thinner-than-normal snow cover, which allowed deep ground freezing – of up to 2 metres depth. Excavations showed ice-filled cracks of up to 50 cm deep and hummocks formed by ice lenses in clayey silt. Similar conditions were also reported during the winter of 1939/40, suggesting that deep frost cracking can occasionally occur in such climates. The study concludes that frost cracking is not limited to polar or permafrost environments; it can also develop in mid-latitude regions during severe winters. As a result, fossil frost cracks found in geological records do not always indicate former permafrost. Misinterpreting such features could lead to errors in palaeoclimate reconstruction.
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