congelation

Ajne explained that while skaters call the surface black ice, it is actually congelation ice, also known as columnar ice or “Kärnis” in Swedish.

But congelation does not kill them, and they can easily be thawed into life, by melting the ice that surrounds them.

It is a well-known species in Chili, where, according to Gould, “it inhabits the sheltered valleys of the Andes, just below the line of perpetual congelation.”

The water at our anchorage being fresh at half-tide, was, no doubt, in favour of this rapid congelation.

During congelation it is brittle, so that the parts will separate by the stroke of a hammer; and by this means the form of its crystals may be discovered.