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Sand-Wedge Polygon

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

  • 129 Accesses

Definition

A polygon outlined by sand wedges underlying its boundaries.

Category

A type of periglacial landform.

A type of thermal-contraction-crack polygon.

Synonyms

Sand-filled polygon; Soil-wedge polygon (not recommended: tessellation, tundra polygon, “Taimyr” polygon)

Description

Sand-filled frost-fissure polygon net. Similar to ice-wedge polygons, their troughs have raised rims.

Morphometry

On Earth, open cracks can be 1–100 mm wide, 2–5 m or more deep, and 1 m to several tens of meters long (Mackay 1974; Murton 1996). Typical is a raised rim on either side of the fissure. Sometimes the rim may be as much as 0.5–1.0 m high. In plain view, the cracks form orthogonal or non-orthogonal networks, according to the kind of angles where cracks or their projections intersect, and complete or incomplete, depending on whether the cracks join (Lachenbruch 1962). Polygon diameter varies from a few meters to >100 m.

Subtypes

  1. (1)

    Primary filling (this entry)

  2. (2)...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology and Meteorology, University of Pécs, Ifjúság u. 6, 7624, Pécs, Hungary

    János Kovács

Authors
  1. János Kovács
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Correspondence to János Kovács .

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Kovács, J. (2014). Sand-Wedge Polygon. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_326-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_326-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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