Stone heave field experiment in clayey silt

We recorded movements of 24 cm large globes and cuboids made of granite, concrete and wood buried at three different depths in silty soil, in a cool temperate environment during four and a half years. We also monitored 4-hourly soil moisture and air and ground temperature. All objects heaved during freezing and fell back during thawing, and some sank during the summers. Freeze–thaw in a very shallow surface layer may result in heave of objects due partly to sediment infill in unfrozen soils beneath the objects. The net result was sinking of some of the granite and concrete objects and rise of wooden ones. The recorded object movements, in relation to the thermal properties and specific gravity of the objects and the embedding soil, show that an (almost) isodiametric object tends to sink or remain in place if its thermal conductivity and density exceed those of the surrounding soil, and to rise if the reverse is the case.