Cold‐Climate Weathering

Weathering is the spontaneous and irreversible response of rocks to conditions at the earth surface. It can be divided into two categories: physical weathering breaks rocks down into smaller fragments and chemical weathering alters mineral within rocks into different materials. Temperature and water are not the only controlling factors in cold-climate weathering. The disintegration of bedrock in periglacial environments is attributed to frost action and rock shattering. Cryogenic weathering refers to the combination of physico-chemical processes that cause the in-situ disintegration of rock under negative temperature conditions. Weak humidification is a further characteristic of the weathering of cryosols. Cryptogamic crusts are important in arid and post-fire environments. The landscape response is the angular rock-rubble accumulations that veneer many upland surfaces. Circumstantial evidence in support of this consensus includes experimental studies that document water migration towards the freezing front in freezing rocks and laboratory and field studies that record dilation of bedrock during freezing and thawing.