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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-2611</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Thermo-hydrological and thermo-mechanical modeling of freezing soil and frost quake occurrence</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Okkonen</surname>
<given-names>Jarkko</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Silbermann</surname>
<given-names>Christian</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5474-0165</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Remes</surname>
<given-names>Jere</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Naumov</surname>
<given-names>Dmitri</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Afonin</surname>
<given-names>Nikita</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kozlovskaya</surname>
<given-names>Elena</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kokko</surname>
<given-names>Emma-Riikka</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3343-4739</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Moisio</surname>
<given-names>Kari</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Gerasimov</surname>
<given-names>Tymofiy</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nagel</surname>
<given-names>Thomas</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8459-4616</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 96, FI-02151 Espoo, Finland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 97, FI-67101 Kokkola, Finland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Oulu Mining School, Faculty of Technology, P.O. Box 3000, FI-90014, University of Oulu</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Geotechnical Institute, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 1, 09599 Freiberg, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>BGE Technology GmbH, Eschenstraße 55, 31224 Peine, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH (UFZ), Department of Environmental Informatics, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg Centre for Water Research (ZeWaF), 09599 Freiberg, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>30</day>
<month>06</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>26</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Jarkko Okkonen et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2611/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2611/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2611/egusphere-2026-2611.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-2611/egusphere-2026-2611.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Frost quakes are seismic events originating in frozen ground, traditionally attributed to ice expansion when air temperature decreases rapidly, the soil is saturated and has little or no snow cover. However, novel observations presented here question the necessity of some of the previous assumption and meteorological conditions, driving us to consider alternative mechanisms. This study investigates frost quake formation through numerical modeling and seismological and hydrological observations in T&amp;auml;htel&amp;auml;, Finland, during winter 2022&amp;ndash;2023. We analyzed soil and atmospheric conditions during frost quake occurrences, noting a strong correlation with rapid air temperature decrease below -20 &amp;deg;C, and with varying snow cover. We modeled the thermo-hydrological (TH) processes, such as cryosuction-driven ice lens growth, using Amanzi-ATS, while the thermo-mechanical (TM) evolution was modeled with OpenGeoSys (OGS). The ATS TH simulation results suggest an important role of cryosuction for the appearance of frost quakes. Focusing on volumetric effects, the OGS TM simulation results reveal tensional and shear stress rates in the soil, both of which are able to cause fracturing leading to frost quakes. Future work should integrate fully-coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical simulations and laboratory experiments to refine predictive models and assess infrastructure risks in cold climates.</p>
</abstract>
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