
%0 Journal Article
%A Chartres, CJ 
%A Costin, AB 
%T Buried soil cracks in alluvium near Braidwood, NSW
%J Soil Research
%D 1981/12/01
%V 19
%N 3
%P 255-263
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/SR9810255
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/SR9810255 
%X Buried soil cracks developed within sandy alluvium are described from the Upper Shoalhaven Valley south-west of Braidwood. The cracks, 10-40 mm wide and filled with an indurated sandy matrix, are about 1 m apart, up to 1.75 m deep, and arranged in a polygonal pattern. Determinations are made of the field and laboratory characteristics of the materials in which the cracks are developed and of the in-fill matrix, and these characteristics are related to possible mechanisms of formation. One possible group of mechanisms is seasonal frost-induced cracking associated with periodic filling in of the cracks by wind- or water-borne debris, then partial truncation of the materials followed by burial under alluvium. The cracks are unlikely to be more than c. 21 000 years old, and may be younger. 
