An earth quake might be triggered by various factors. A volcano, a movement deep inside the earth layers, a movement around a subduction zone may result in an earth quake. But in Toronto some people heard a very loud bang last night (early morning around 2-3 am)Jan 3rd 2014 which is related to extreme cold weather and recent ice storm. It looks it happened before north of Toronto at the end of December 2013. The cause of the big bang is not earth tectonic but frozen earth. As a result of a sudden deep freeze inside a dry ground, ice expands and cracks. Extreme cold weather continues for 3 days and temperature wend down to -23 C in my balcony weather station in East York Toronto.Northern areas such as Richmond hills experienced -28 C. Temperature at the moment (around 1 pm) is -18 C. With the wind chill the temperature feels like -27 C. Such an extreme cold weather happened years ago in 1981.So a very cold ice expands and water from surface penetrates inside the dry soil and freeze inside the ground below. Frozen ground expands but doesn't have enough room for its expansion. This circumstance results in a shallow cracks in ground and surrounding rock. Geologists called this phenomena Cryoseism which may happen inside a glacier or a frozen ground. Some Torontonians not only heard it but also felt it. They called police and complained a gunshot or earth movement.
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| Courtesy Citynews Toronto |
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