The simulation demonstrates how frost-heave-driven convective sorting transforms uniform soil and stones into circles, polygons, or stripes depending on slope angle and the intensity of freeze-thaw cycling.
Adjust the slope angle and freeze-thaw cycle intensity sliders to watch the sorting pattern reorganize in real time between circular, polygonal, and striped forms.
Sliders for slope angle and freeze-thaw cycle intensity, with a toggle for soil moisture level
Some ice-wedge polygon networks visible in modern satellite imagery are relict features left over from the last ice age, preserved in ground that is no longer even underlain by permafrost.
The simulation demonstrates how frost-heave-driven convective sorting transforms uniform soil and stones into circles, polygons, or stripes depending on slope angle and the intensity of freeze-thaw cycling.
The simulation demonstrates how frost-heave-driven convective sorting transforms uniform soil and stones into circles, polygons, or stripes depending on slope angle and the intensity of freeze-thaw cycling.
Adjust the slope angle and freeze-thaw cycle intensity sliders to watch the sorting pattern reorganize in real time between circular, polygonal, and striped forms.
Some ice-wedge polygon networks visible in modern satellite imagery are relict features left over from the last ice age, preserved in ground that is no longer even underlain by permafrost.