What is water freezing and thawing in the rock and how does freezing and thawing of rocks affect the rocks?
Water seeps into cracks in the rocks, and, as the temperature drops below freezing, the water expands as ice in the cracks. The expansion exerts tremendous pressure on the surrounding rock and acts like a wedge, making cracks wider. After repeated freezing and thawing of water, the rock breaks apart. Freeze-thaw occurs when water continually seeps into cracks, freezes and expands, eventually breaking the rock apart. Exfoliation occurs as cracks develop parallel to the land surface a consequence of the reduction in pressure during uplift and erosion. So, the water which collects in the cracks of rocks expands on freezing. This puts pressure on the rock. The ice again melts and then freezes again. This process continues and the crack in rock expands to destroy the rock. The continuous freezing and melting of water is thawing.
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