Abstract
Soil erosion is attracting increasing attention worldwide as demands on land use increase with the growing human population. Arctic soils appear to be extremely sensitive to erosion by wind and water. Because of ice sheet erosion and massive exposure of fresh rock Arctic soils are often young and dominated by swelling clays. Freeze–thaw cycles in such water-adsorbing materials must influence the mechanics of the soil horizons. In this study using high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy we show the formation of ice in such clay structures and show that the freezing process can deform the clay structure and even produce particles of aerosol dimensions.
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Tazaki, K., Fyfe, W. & Iwatsuki, M. Clues to Arctic soil erosion from cryo-electron microscopy of smectite. Nature 333, 245–247 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/333245a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/333245a0
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