Big bang, possibly an ice quake, shakes Alberta village during the night

ALBERTA BEACH, Alta. – Some residents of a village west of Edmonton awoke earlier this week to a very loud bang, and in the morning they reported cracks in homes and the ground.

Alberta Beach mayor Jim Benedict says people thought something had hit their houses or that something had fallen on their houses very early Tuesday morning, Jan. 2.

Alberta Energy Regulator spokesman Jordan Fitzgerald says staff at the regulator’s Alberta Geological Survey confirm there were two seismic events of approximately 2.0 magnitude late Monday night.

Fitzgerald says staff can’t confirm their exact location due to the low magnitude and the sparsity of nearby seismic stations, but he says initial information shows they were consistent with reports of an earthquake near Alberta Beach.