cryoturbation
adj.— «Temperatures are so low that when tree and grasses die they do not fully decompose. New plants grow out of the half-rotted old ones, and when these plants die the same thing happens all over again. Eventually, through a process known as cryoturbation, organic matter is pushed down beneath the active layer into the permafrost, where it can sit for thousands of years in a botanical version of suspended animation.» —“The Climate Of Man” by Elizabeth Kolbert New Yorker Apr. 18, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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