Question

Frost wedging occurs when water seeps into a crack in a rock, freezes, and causes the crack in the rock to widen. true or false?

Answer 1

It is true that frost wedging occurs when water seeps into a crack in a rock, freezes, and causes the crack in the rock to widen.

Answer 2

The statement is - True.

The frost wedging is one of the processes that contribute to the physical weathering of the rocks. Basically, if the rock has a crack, water manages to get into that crack. On the places where there's winters and the temperature drops bellow zero, the water in the crack of the rock freezes. Because the ice is expanding, it creates a lot of pressure inside the rock. Because of this pressure, the rock eventually cracks into two or more pieces. There have even been recorded cases where this form of weathering resulted in explosion of the rocks, where the pressure inside the rock was so big, that it has literary exploded, but that is very, very rare.