Quantitative Stereological Analysis of Grain Bonds in Snow

A section-plane preparation technique and an operational definition of a snow grain bond are developed to allow the quantitative analysis of bonding in snow structure. Values for three-dimensional grain size, grain-bond size and number density, and related bonding measurements are presented for equi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Author: Kry, P. R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1975
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000021973
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000021973
Description
Summary:A section-plane preparation technique and an operational definition of a snow grain bond are developed to allow the quantitative analysis of bonding in snow structure. Values for three-dimensional grain size, grain-bond size and number density, and related bonding measurements are presented for equi-temperature metamorphosed snow. These results from mutually orthogonal planes within a given snow block show that the assumptions of randomness and isotropy of grain and grain-bond location and orientation, necessary for stereological analysis from one plane, are satisfied to within ± 10% even after 30% uniaxial plastic deformation of the snow block. The idealization of a grain bond as a circular plane disk yields self-consistent results. The number of bonds per grain cannot be accurately determined from two-dimensional studies due to variations in the shape and size of snow grains within a given sample.