Frost weathering versus glacial grinding in the micromorphology of quartz sand grains: Processes and geological implications

Micromorphology of quartz sand grains is used to reconstruct processes occurring in the glacial environment and to distinguish the latter from other environments. Two processes dominate in the glacial environment, i.e., crushing and abrasion, or a combination thereof. Their effect is a wide range of microstructures on the surface of quartz grains, e.g., chattermarks, conchoidal fractures and multiple grooves.However, the periglacial environment also effectively modifies the surface of quartz grains. The active layer of permafrost is considered to have a significantly higher contribution to the formation of crushed grains and the number of microstructures resulting from mechanical destruction (e.g., breakage blocks or conchoidal fractures), as compared to deposits which are not affected by freeze–thaw cycles. However, only a few microstructures are found in both environments. At the same time, there are several processes in subglacial environments related to freeze–thaw cycles, e.g., regelation, congelation, basal adfreezing, and glaciohydraulic supercooling. Most likely, therefore, the role of the glacial environment in the destruction of quartz grains has been misinterpreted, and consequently the conclusions regarding environmental processes drawn on the basis of the number of crushed grains and edge-to-edge contacts are erroneous.