Frost heaving

Ice lens formation resulting in frost heave in cold climates.

Frost heaving is the lifting of frozen soil, caused by water rising from below to the level in the soil where it freezes, accumulates as ice, and pushes the soil above it upwards.

Frost Heaving Media

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  Anatomy of a frost heave during spring thaw. The side of a 6-inch (15-cm) heave with the soil removed to reveal (bottom to top):

  • Needle ice, which has extruded up from the freezing front through porous soil from a water table below
  • Coalesced ice-rich soil, which has been subject to freeze-thaw
  • Thawed soil on top

  *Photograph taken 21 March 2010 in Norwich, Vermont
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  Frost heaves on a rural Vermont road during spring thaw

• Partially melted and collapsed lithalsas (heaved mounds found in permafrost) have left ring-like structures on the Svalbard Archipelago

• Palsas (heaving of organics-rich soils in discontinuous permafrost) may be found in alpine areas below Mugi Hill on Mount Kenya.

Related pages

• Permafrost