frost heave
Frozen soil bulge
Frost heave is the upward swelling of soil caused by ice forming beneath the surface.
As water in the ground freezes, it expands and pushes the soil upward, often unevenly.
This process damages roads, foundations, and fence posts in cold climates: The sidewalk buckled from frost heave over the winter.
Rhythmic rise and fall
- bumpsSmall raised areas
- moundsHeaps of earth
- unevennessLack of uniformity
- bulgingSwelling outward visibly
protrusion · hummocks · patterned ground · tripping hazard · uneven pavement
Hard road covering
- foundationUnderlying support structure
- subgradeSoil layer supporting pavement
- roadbedFoundation beneath railway tracks
- asphaltPetroleum-based paving material
concrete · drainage · insulation · grading · bitumen · culvert · sidewalk · curb
Breaking without separating completely
- displacementRemoval from usual location
- ruptureViolent tearing apart
- fractureSplit in hard material
- deformationChange in shape
buckling · warpage · settling · spalling · subsidence · distortion · uplift · tilting
Techniques using extreme cold
- soil moistureWater in ground
- capillary actionFluid movement through narrow channels
- freeze-thaw cyclesRepeated icing and melting
undulation
Rhythmic rise and fall
- bumpsSmall raised areas
- moundsHeaps of earth
- unevennessLack of uniformity
bulging · protrusion · hummocks · patterned ground · tripping hazard · uneven pavement
pavement
Hard road covering
- foundationUnderlying support structure
- subgradeSoil layer supporting pavement
- roadbedFoundation beneath railway tracks
asphalt · concrete · drainage · insulation · grading · bitumen · culvert · sidewalk · curb · retaining wall
cracking
Breaking without separating completely
- displacementRemoval from usual location
- ruptureViolent tearing apart
- fractureSplit in hard material
deformation · buckling · warpage · settling · spalling · subsidence · distortion · uplift · tilting · structural failure
cryogenic processes
Techniques using extreme cold
- soil moistureWater in ground
- capillary actionFluid movement through narrow channels
- freeze-thaw cyclesRepeated icing and melting
- polar regionsAntarctica, polar bears, Arctic Ocean, glaciers, Arctic
- northern weatherblizzard, blizzards, snowfall, cold snap, cold
- trail hazardsrocks, boulders, ruts, mud, fallen tree
- weather damagestorm damage, wind damage, hail damage, flood damage, tornado damage
- winter hazardsavalanche, black ice, blizzard, frostbite, hypothermia
- Earth processesplate tectonics, erosion, weathering, volcanism, sedimentation
frost heavesubsidence
Gradual ground sinking
settlement · sinking · compaction · soil compaction · consolidation
frozen, frost, freezing, heave, upheaval, frosted, heaving, defrost, frosts