View from the side of Cox Tor, looking East towards a small tarn, Dartmoor, Devon
A special form of cryoturbation is represented by earth hummocks or thufur, they are vegetated oval mounds with heights of 30 to 50 cm. Earth hummocks develop because of local patchy freezing of pore-water in the active layer, yet no pure ice core forms but a small proportion of the soil freezes. This core of frozen ground causes moisture migration towards it, concurrently causing a small scaled displacement of soil material in the same direction. Frost heaving leads to the development of a small mound, and as the freeze/thaw processes re-occur many times, this displacement is amplified.’
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Cox Tor, Dartmoor, Devon,UK
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: cryoturbation, darftmoor, dartmoor, devon, earth, geography, hummocks, leisure, moor, moorland, mounds, national, outcrops, park, periglacial, physical, summer, sunshine, tarn, thufurs, tor, walking
