Frost quakes keep things popping at Gillan residence

Things have been popping underground at the home of Mark and Melody Gillan in Concordia for more than a month.
A Google search by Melody revealed that the sound coming from underground in their yard was being caused by cryoseims, otherwise known as frost quakes or ice quakes.
Frost quakes are a rare geological phenomena that occurs when there is a rapid drop in the temperature that causes the underground water to quickly freeze. The ice expands and puts pressure on the soil and bedrock around it. Once the pressure builds enough it can cause the soil, and even the bedrock lower underground, to crack. The result of the cracking can cause loud booms. They are more common in polar and mountainous regions where glaciers move.
“They have been going off forever,” Melody said.
The Gillans said that the popping from the frost quakes was still occurring last week and could also be heard coming from across the street on the grounds of the Nazareth Motherhouse.
Melody said she first experienced a frost quake when she was out in the yard with the couple’s dog Habor Bae.
“I had taken the dog out and all of sudden something popped right next to me. I thought that sounds like a firecracker, but under the ground,” Melody said.
At first Mark believed the sound was coming from someone shooting a gun.
“He said I was crazy. He said that someone is shooting a gun on the other side of the convent,” Melody said.
Melody turned to Google for answers.
“I Googled my description of it, a firecracker popping underground, and that came up. So I read about it, and I told him (Mark) they are called frost quakes,” Melody said.
Melody said that one day that they were very active she told a friend who lives nearby to come over.
“Six of them went off in like 10 seconds,” Melody said.
Mark, who is originally from Concordia, and Melody said that no one they have talked to have ever heard of frost quakes.
“It is the strangest thing to me,” Mark said.
Frost quakes have been reported to have caused the ground to crack and there have been rare cases of small cracks in the ground, driveways, foundations and roads.
There have also been reports of flashing lights in the same area of frost quakes, that were thought to be caused by electrical charges of the compressed rock during the event.
The Gillans, who said the frost quakes have not caused any cracks in their yard, sent a video  to KSNT News in Topeka on which a frost quake can be heard.
The KSNT StormTrack Weather team team believes that the frost quakes the Gillans have experienced, because there was no reported shaking, were caused by pressure cracks in the soil and not the bedrock lower underground.
To view the Gillan’s video go to https://www.ksnt.com/weather/whats-a-frost-quake-listen-to-one-in-kansas/