QUARTZ CO. EXPLORE 2.0
From our very beginning, we’ve been driven by a deep admiration for the natural world – especially the cold, icy, and, sometimes, unforgiving environments of the North. As an outerwear company, our goal is to bring warmth, comfort and joy to those living in Northern climates.
With the second edition of Quartz Co. Explore, we shed light on the beauty of our wintery surroundings, whether it’s a frozen lake in Southern Alberta or a sea slug native to British Columbia’s chilly Pacific coast.
Frozen methane bubbles beneath the surface of Alberta’s Lake Abraham.
These stunning, icy bubbles are formed when plants and tree limbs on the lake bottom begin to decay. This process produces methane gas bubbles, which become trapped in ice, suspended just below the lake’s surface during the winter months.
The Alabaster Nudibranch
The alabaster nudibranch is a sea slug native to the cold waters of the eastern Pacific, off the coast of British Columbia. These mollusks’ transparent appendages are edged in bright, white lines which appear to glow underwater.
Ice rings on New Hampshire’s Mirror Lake
Scientists are still stumped as to why these concentric ice circles have appeared on the surface of New Hampshire’s Mirror Lake. One possible theory is that the surface ice has taken the shape of the river’s currents as they move around protruding river stones. While few other theories exist, these ice rings remain one of winter’s beautiful, unsolved mysteries.
Ice caves in Patagonia, Argentina
Below the equator, close to the South Pole, is Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park. This vast expanse of protected subpolar forest is home to a plethora of snowy wonders including 47 freshwater glaciers and the glistening icecaves naturally carved within.
Sastrugi in the Arctic and Antarctic regions
Translating to “small ridges” from the Russian zastrugi, sastrugi is the name given to the hard ridges that form on the surface of sea and lake ice of Earth’s Arctic regions. Sastrugi form similarly to sand dunes in the desert, when small granules of snowdrift together in strong winds and freeze solid to form these beautiful, undulating patterns.
* Quartz Co. does not claim ownership of the images in this article.
All rights and credits go to their rightful owners.