Measurements of surface energy of air-hydrate crystals in Vostok ice core, Antarctica
Microscopic observations of thin sections of Vostok ice cores, Antarctica, showed that various shapes and sizes of air-hydrate crystals are located on the grain boundaries. The surface energy of air-hydrate crystal was measured on 41 crystals in 7 different depth ice cores. These measurements reveal...
Summary: | Microscopic observations of thin sections of Vostok ice cores, Antarctica, showed that various shapes and sizes of air-hydrate crystals are located on the grain boundaries. The surface energy of air-hydrate crystal was measured on 41 crystals in 7 different depth ice cores. These measurements revealed that the surface energy of air-hydrate was almost constant at all depths below 1050m, and that the average ratio between the surface energy of air-hydrate and ice grain boundary energy was 0.97±0.19. The observations also showed that air-hydrate crystals acted as obstacles for ice grain boundary migration. |
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