Making new soil during winter

We usually don't associate icicles with being part of the process of soil creation, but this photo illustrates it.

A long time ago, a tree fell over the edge of a small limestone bluff.

Wedged in rocks below and attached to the edge of the bluff above, the main log has remained suspended above the ground for years.

A few days before I arrived on the scene, it rained, snowed and turned cold.

Icicles formed on the log as rain water seeped from the limestone rocks onto and into the old log.

As the water made its way through the rotting log, it carried minute parts of the rotting wood with it.

The icicles on the underside of the log are yellow-brown because of the wood particles inside them.

When the icicles melt, these small wood particles will drip with the water and be carried into the earth below to become a part of the soil called humus.

Through the Woods is a weekly nature photo column by Aaron Horrell. Find this column at semissourian.com to order a reprint of the photo. Find more work by him at the Painted Wren Gallery in downtown Cape Girardeau.