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#214141 02/06/14 04:48 AM
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Jackie Offline OP
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Known technically as cryoseism, frost quakes are a rare natural phenomena that occur when the temperature drops suddenly, causing moisture in the ground to freeze and expand. They can cause an earthquake-like rumble sometimes with loud, booming noises.

From a news item about cold weather in the U.S. I've never heard of either the word or the phenomenon.

Hmm--cryo I get, but --se-- ?

Jackie #214142 02/06/14 05:49 AM
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-seism, from the Greek to shake, as in seismograph.

Jackie #214143 02/06/14 11:42 AM
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You might have heard them if you've ever been around a seriously frozen lake.

Faldage #214144 02/06/14 03:59 PM
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if 'lake quakes' (my term) are the selfsame phenomena, we got Minnesota, land of 10,000 seriously frozen lakes: not rare at all to hear expansion and contraction of the deeply frozen surface ice.

my reading is that Cryoseisms are soil and rock phenomena.

Faldage #214148 02/07/14 03:19 AM
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We don't get many seriously frozen anythings down here in Kentucky. Occasionally a pond or low creek will have surface ice.
Thanks for the info., though.

Edit: -seism, from the Greek to shake, as in seismograph. Wait--now I get it. Peter, I read this without seeing it until the screen went back. I never thought of cryoseism(ograph). Cool!

Jackie #214149 02/07/14 10:11 AM
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Yep, cryoseism: Pretty cool, when it all shakes out.

Tromboniator #214152 02/08/14 04:19 AM
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Jackie Offline OP
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Grrr--oannnnn! laugh

Jackie #214153 02/08/14 05:18 AM
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It's my mother's fault.

Tromboniator #214158 02/08/14 05:14 PM
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No, Peter, I think it's Alaska's cold.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #214159 02/08/14 11:24 PM
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Actually, it's been warmer here than in most of the country, with grass starting to grow. Blizzard yesterday, 45-mph wind and whiteout; unimpeded sunlight and zephyrs today, right at freezing.

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