slidesdownhill and settles in depressions orchards and citrus fruit groves are usually planted on slopes. Other factors in the occurrence of frost are altitude, latitude, proximity to large bodies of water, and other determinants of temperature. Frost, an element of climate, is an important agent of erosion. Frost heaving, an upthrust of ground caused by freezing, is a factor of consideration in engineering construction, especially in highway foundations. Frost is also a factor in the layer by layer mechanical weathering (exfoliation) of many types of rock masses. In England the word frost denotes freezing weather and degrees of frost means the number of degrees that the temperature falls below the freezing point.
See R. L. Berg and E. Wright Frost Action and Its Control (1984).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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