During a cold spell this winter I put some silt in a baking dish and let it go through a series of freeze-thaw cycles (outside to freeze, inside to thaw.) Eventually it started forming dramatic cracks and growing fibrous ice crystals. I think there might be other interesting things to do, following this further and using mixed particle sizes. Some of the soil scientists who were in my department in grad school were looking at these phenomena because they can result in stirring of arctic soils and possibly sequester or release carbon in the soil. Over the long term these processes mix soil, pulling organic material from the surface to bury it deep or carrying old stored organics up to the surface to oxidize into the atmosphere.