What is the primary mechanism of mechanical weathering characterized by the growth of ice crystals in rock fractures during freeze-thaw cycles?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Frost wedging is a mechanical weathering process driven by the repeated freezing and thawing of water trapped inside rock fractures. Water expands by roughly nine percent upon turning into ice, generating immense wedge pressures that progressively widen joints and break rocks apart. Other choices like exfoliation and thermal expansion involve unloading or temperature fluctuations rather than ice crystal growth.