Legal Commentary

Ice quake!

By Ann Althouse

Thursday afternoon the staff from the University of Wisconsin-Madison near Lake Mendota felt a shake and heard a noise like a boom which was triggered by an ice quake.

According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison geologists, even though they didn?t feel the quake on West Dayton Street the tremor was recorded around 12:50 p.m. and lasted two or three seconds. At the time quake the temperature in Madison was of 16 degrees.

Patrick Brenzel, from the department of sociology situated at the eighth-floor, 1180 Observatory Drive, said: ?It actually sounded like a bus drove into the building. The whole building shook.?

The ice quakes are triggered by large shifts in lake ice when temperature changes dramatically thus making a loud noise when it cracks, according to Cliff Thurber, a professor of geophysics....

Several people called police when they?ve heard the noise....

[P]eople coming out of the offices were looking at each other almost like saying ?Do you think it was a bomb??

Full post as published by Althouse on February 01, 2008 (boomark / email).