By Canadian Press

Alberta ice quake solved

Dec 14, 2018 | 1:18 PM

Researchers at the University of Alberta say a unique combination of weather and buckling lake ice caused the ground to shake at a resort area west of Edmonton last winter.

Several residents of Alberta Beach at Lac Ste Anne discovered large cracks in the lake ice and in the ground on New Year’s Day after waking earlier in the day to shaking and loud crashing sounds.

The researchers say the lack of snow on the lake and a dramatic rise in temperature caused a big bump in the temperature of the lake ice and a rapid expansion of up to four metres toward the shoreline.

Experts say the quakes also happened on Pigeon Lake and Gull Lake southwest of Edmonton and had a magnitude of 2.0 on the Richter scale.