In a periglacial landscape, a near-vertical ice sheet, tens to hundreds of metres long, tapering into the ground to depths of 12 m. Individual wedges usually meet another wedge orthogonally. Matsuoka (1999) Polar Geosci. 12 records an expansion of 16 mm across an ice wedge at –17 °C. Ice wedge casts are sediment-filled, fossil ice wedges; see Harris et al. (2005) Geomorph. 71, 3–4 for the ice-wedge casting processes.
Ice-wedge networks
form as ice fills the tension fractures resulting from cooling. They form in stable, aggrading or sloped surfaces, with winter temperatures from –15 °C to –35 °C. Modelled polygonal networks self-organize through interactions between fractures, stress, and re-fracture (Plug and Werner (2008) Permaf. & Periglac. Procs DOI: 10.1002/).