The ice spike as I first discovered it.
There is no twig inside -- the ice grew up from the
water on its own. Why? I don't remember ever seeing this before.
This picture shows the thin layer of ice on the water, the pyramid shape of the spike,
and the hollow area in the center.
As I've come to know, those are key aspects of an
"ice spike." The essence of the process is that a thin layer of ice forms on the water
and as the water below approaches freezing, it expands through an opening in the ice.
With a hollow canal in the center of a typically tilted and pyramid-shaped column,
water continues to expand up through the canal and out the top.
I allowed the event to puzzle me for a month or two before I became curious enough to
do research on the Internet. I found a good Scientific American aritcle on ice spikes,
directions for growing your own in ice cube trays in the freezer, etc.
There is even a
Wikipedia entry for "ice spikes."
Science Project
About a year ago, I took Echo out for her walk. This leaning ice formation was growing from her outside water dish. I was intrigued by it, and I eventually went back out and took a lot of pictures of it.