Cryoturbation
Cryoturbation is the mixing of soils due to the alternate freezing and thawing of water.
Solifluction is the slow, downhill movement of near-surface soils caused by the alternate freezing and thawing of contained water.
Ref The HS2 London-West Midlands Environmental Statement, published by the Department for Transport in November 2013.
NB Green infrastructure and open environments: London’s foundations: protecting the geodiversity of the capital, Supplementary Planning Guidance, published by the Mayor of London in March 2012, defines cryoturbation as: ‘A collective term to describe the churning, modification and all other disturbances of soil resulting from frost action. The repeated freezing and thawing of the soil eventual leads to patterned ground.’
Green infrastructure and open environments: London’s foundations: protecting the geodiversity of the capital, Supplementary Planning Guidance, published by the Mayor of London in March 2012, defines solifluction as: ‘…a slow downslope flow of water-saturated fragmental material or soil. It is promoted by the existence of permafrost which traps snow and ice melt within the surface layer making it more fluid.’
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