Ice Crystals Near Oologah Lake, Oklahoma
January 25, 2010
Photographer: Dusty Hicks
Summary Author: Dusty Hicks; Jim Foster
On a walk I took on New Year’s Day 2010, I noticed these intriguing ice crystals. They were most obvious on this boulder, adjacent to the north-facing shore of Oologah Lake, in northeastern Oklahoma. Moisture from melt water or seepage of groundwater may be extruded from the rock (or through soil or snow) by hydrostatic pressure. The pressure forces liquid to the surface where it freezes into needle-like crystals. The crystals will continue to grow as long as the moisture source is readily available and the air remains below freezing. See also the Earth Science Picture of the Day for March 10, 2006.
Oologah Lake coordinates: 36.622347, -95.569244