Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities
Slow-moving arctic soils commonly organize into striking large-scale spatial patterns called solifluction terraces and lobes. Although these features impact hillslope stability, carbon storage and release, and landscape response to climate change, no mechanistic explanation exists for their formatio...
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1835789 2023-07-30T04:01:04+02:00 Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities Glade, Rachel C. Fratkin, Michael M. Pouragha, Mehdi Seiphoori, Ali Rowland, Joel C. 2023-02-23 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1835789 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1835789 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101255118 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1835789 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1835789 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101255118 doi:10.1073/pnas.2101255118 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101255118 2023-07-11T10:09:00Z Slow-moving arctic soils commonly organize into striking large-scale spatial patterns called solifluction terraces and lobes. Although these features impact hillslope stability, carbon storage and release, and landscape response to climate change, no mechanistic explanation exists for their formation. Everyday fluids—such as paint dripping down walls—produce markedly similar fingering patterns resulting from competition between viscous and cohesive forces. Here we use a scaling analysis to show that soil cohesion and hydrostatic effects can lead to similar large-scale patterns in arctic soils. A large dataset of high-resolution solifluction lobe spacing and morphology across Norway supports theoretical predictions and indicates a newly observed climatic control on solifluction dynamics and patterns. Our findings provide a quantitative explanation of a common pattern on Earth and other planets, illuminating the importance of cohesive forces in landscape dynamics. These patterns operate at length and time scales previously unrecognized, with implications toward understanding fluid–solid dynamics in particulate systems with complex rheology. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Climate change SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Norway Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 21 |
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Open Polar |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
op_collection_id |
ftosti |
language |
unknown |
topic |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
spellingShingle |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Glade, Rachel C. Fratkin, Michael M. Pouragha, Mehdi Seiphoori, Ali Rowland, Joel C. Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
Slow-moving arctic soils commonly organize into striking large-scale spatial patterns called solifluction terraces and lobes. Although these features impact hillslope stability, carbon storage and release, and landscape response to climate change, no mechanistic explanation exists for their formation. Everyday fluids—such as paint dripping down walls—produce markedly similar fingering patterns resulting from competition between viscous and cohesive forces. Here we use a scaling analysis to show that soil cohesion and hydrostatic effects can lead to similar large-scale patterns in arctic soils. A large dataset of high-resolution solifluction lobe spacing and morphology across Norway supports theoretical predictions and indicates a newly observed climatic control on solifluction dynamics and patterns. Our findings provide a quantitative explanation of a common pattern on Earth and other planets, illuminating the importance of cohesive forces in landscape dynamics. These patterns operate at length and time scales previously unrecognized, with implications toward understanding fluid–solid dynamics in particulate systems with complex rheology. |
author |
Glade, Rachel C. Fratkin, Michael M. Pouragha, Mehdi Seiphoori, Ali Rowland, Joel C. |
author_facet |
Glade, Rachel C. Fratkin, Michael M. Pouragha, Mehdi Seiphoori, Ali Rowland, Joel C. |
author_sort |
Glade, Rachel C. |
title |
Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
title_short |
Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
title_full |
Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
title_fullStr |
Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
title_sort |
arctic soil patterns analogous to fluid instabilities |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1835789 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1835789 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101255118 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway |
genre |
Arctic Climate change |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1835789 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1835789 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101255118 doi:10.1073/pnas.2101255118 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2101255118 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
118 |
container_issue |
21 |
_version_ |
1772811806196105216 |