Posts Tagged ‘ice-falls’
ice falls
Last weekend we took a drive along Highway 8 from Fredericton to Boisetown, a relatively new road to bypass Marysville and the older winding road along the Nashwaak River. For some of its length, the highway has been carved through bedrock and includes several impressive road cuts. I find these interesting because they show the geological formations in the bedrock. In winter, they are beautiful, a result of the frozen curtains of runoff and overland flow.
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Some of these cuts show thick ice flows, frozen waterfalls and dripping icicles.
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Most are browning in colour, probably from inclusion of sediments, but some are clear and blue.
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In a few places, it’s possible to look through gaps in the flow, and get a glimpse of the still, cold spaces lurking just out of sight.
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curtain of ice
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frozen land drools, and water
follows contours of rock
encounters cold, sculpts
cataracts and waterfalls, builds
frozen walls, solidifies
panes of glass, stitches
curtains of frost and filigree
icicle knives
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behind the curtain are caves
spaces where light glimmers,
diffuse where whispers shiver,
muted, protected from wind
glimpse inward layers
through flaws in rigid curtains
frosted shards of rock
icicle knives
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For more on ice falls, including another poem, see
https://janetims.com/2012/03/10/snippets-of-landscape-ice-falls-on-rock-walls-2/
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My best always,
Jane
ice-falls in New Brunswick
An ice-fall along highway #102 in New Brunswick
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One of the sad things about the end of winter is the demise of our ice-falls in New Brunswick. Along the roads, where there are streams intersected by road-cuts, we often have a build-up of ice as it drips from the top of the cut. Some of the ice-falls are spectacular and all are dazzlers in the sun. For more about ice-falls in my blog see here.
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From my reading, I know that ice-falls begin as ‘frazil ice’, a suspension of small ice crystals adhering to soil, rock or vegetation. As meltwater flows over the surface of the frozen ice-fall, new layers are built and a cross-section of the ice will show bands of ice.
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In New Brunswick, some ice-falls are climbable, and some create caves under the curtain of ice. A famous New Brunswick ice-fall is the Midland Ice Caves near Norton. https://www.explorenb.ca/blog/icecaves
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one warm hand
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icicles seep between
layers of rock frozen
curtains separate
inner room from winter storm
glass barrier between blue
light and sheltered eyes
memory of water flows
along the face of the rock
one warm hand melts ice
consolation, condensation
on the inward glass
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(published as ‘one warm hand’, http://www.janetims.com, March 10, 2012)
Copyright Jane Tims 2018
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