What, exactly, is an ice quake?

Question

What, exactly, is an ice quake?

Answer 1

Ice breaking apart, like an earthquake, just with Ice ice baby.

Answer 2

Ice quakes refer to non-tectonic quakes caused by freezing and defrosting of various parts of the Earth's geology.

Another type of ice quake is caused by the ground freezing quickly; this causes pressures to build up until something moves -- resulting in jerks, tremors, pops, bangs, and sometimes even visible cracks in the surface of the ground. This type of ice quake is technically known as a cryoseism, and is more fully covered in that node.

There is one more type of ice quake; when a glacier starts slipping across the ground on a layer of melted water, it causes a slow, low-level quake. These quakes are sometimes called glacial earthquakes, although 'ice quake' seems to be the more common label at this time.

The theory is that the low-level, low-frequency quakes that seem to be coming from the glaciers are caused by the glaciers building up a layer of meltwater underneath themselves, until they lose traction and scrape their way downhill for up to ten meters. Glaciers can be really, really big -- they can be hundreds of kilometers long, and hundreds of meters deep. When they drag over the rough, rocky ground they can cause quakes up to at least magnitude 5. They also tend to last longer than to tectonic quakes.

Answer 3

an equakequake that involves ice... like anything in antartica...

Answer 4

Honestly, the first thing I thought of was a new invention from the nice people at Dairy Queen.