The slow, downslope flow of water-saturated soil over an impermeable layer such as permafrost, typically during the seasonal thaw of the active layer above frozen ground. It produces characteristic lobed and terraced ground surfaces on hillslopes across tundra and other periglacial environments.
Facts
Partially Attested
TimescaleGradual, slow downslope movement 1 The source describes the processes only as gradual and gives no numeric rate or duration in the quoted passage. First Proposed YearThe term solifluction was coined by Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1906 with a meaning that differs from the modern one, so 1906 dates the term and not the modern concept. Process Type Sources
1. Solifluction, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph, first sentence
Solifluction is a collective name for gradual processes in which a mass moves down a slope ("mass wasting") related to freeze-thaw activity.
Lead paragraph, first sentence, word gradual
Solifluction is a collective name for gradual processes in which a mass moves down a slope ("mass wasting") related to freeze-thaw activity.
Lead paragraph, second sentence
This is the standard modern meaning of solifluction, which differs from the original meaning given to it by Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1906.
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