This photograph was taken during late January in a Connecticut nature preserve with temperatures hovering around twenty degrees fahrenheit. This fallen white oak leaf landed in a small creek and went through a repeated freeze-thaw cycle. The ice took the form of the leaf because the temperatures were cold enough for the ice to cover the leaf, but during the day the sun’s radiation heated up the leaf and caused some of the ice to melt. This constant freeze-thaw cycle is what created the shape of the leaf in the ice. Since temperatures were mostly below freezing in this area, the standing water outside the leaf didn't melt, only the ice over the leaf did. The leaf absorbs the radiation of the sun and heats up melting the ice on top of it.