Abstract
SIR GEORGE BEILBY (“Aggregation and Flow of Solids,” 1921) has recently directed attention to the impossibility of explaining the flow of glaciers at temperatures much below 0° C. on the regelation hypothesis, and the necessity for assuming a deformation of the ice-crystals by displacement along internal-glide planes or at the crystal boundaries. From his experiments on the behaviour of metals and minerals under pressure he suggests that in ice a vitreous modification will be produced at the plane of displacement, and that above a certain temperature—the “crystallisation temperature”—this will immediately revert to the crystalline state, the process being repeated indefinitely during movement. Should the temperature of the ice fall below this point it is predicted that the flow will be retarded, as the vitreous modifications of metals are harder than the crystalline, and their presence promotes rigidity.
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HAWKES, L. The Brittleness of Ice at Low Temperatures. Nature 109, 240 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109240a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109240a0
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