What are the mysterious booms rocking Oklahoma and frightening wildlife? Experts investigate after seismologists rule out 'frost quakes'
- Earthquakes occurred about a half-hour before loud booms rattled Oklahoma Friday, though officials say the booms are not likely aftershocks
- Seismologists ruled out problems related to fracking and frost quakes, which crack rocks and earth when moisture freezes in the ground and expands
Several mysterious booms have shaken central Oklahoma, rattling windows and spooking livestock, and officials say they don't yet have answers for what is causing the deafening noises.
Oklahoma Geological Survey research seismologist Austin Holland said a series of booms, much like a sonic boom, rattled the Norman area starting at 11:19 a.m. Friday.
Similar booms had been reported Thursday in the same area, along with other surrounding towns, though Friday's booms weren't 'quite as frequent' as Thursday's, according to Holland.
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Boom: Deafening noises have mysteriously occurred through central Oklahoma, rattling windows and spooking livestock on Thursday and Friday
The windows of Anthony Young's home on the outskirts of Oklahoma City rattled. 'We thought some nut was out here, you know, with explosives,' Young told KOCO-TV.
'It sounded like thunder, you could feel the ground shake, but it was nothing like an earthquake,' Young said.
US Geological Survey officials said two earthquakes struck the area on Friday, a half-hour before the booms began, though they said the booms were not likely aftershocks, according to KOCO-TV.
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Both Holland and National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Day didn't have an explanation for the booms.
Holland said it's unlikely that it's due to a drilling process known as fracking because the booms were heard and felt over a wide area including Norman, Edmond and Shawnee.
Day, who's based in Norman, said a phenomenon known as cryoseisms also isn't likely. Cryoseisms, or 'frost quakes,' occur when water quickly freezes in soil or rock, then expands and cracks.
Rattled: The windows of Norman resident Anthony Young's home rattled Friday, causing him to think at first that it was some 'nut' with explosives
'There are some stories going around that's what it was, but based on the research we've done here, it doesn't appear what people heard is related to the cryoseism phenomena,' Day told The Norman Transcript.
'There's not enough moisture, and the temperatures are not cold enough. That happens in areas where you have a lot of water flowing through a lot of rock,' Day said.
'We don't know what it was, we just know what it is not,' according to Day.
Holland said the booms occurred on generally regular interval, initially occurring 40 to 60 seconds apart, then about 20 seconds apart.
'It's a mystery to us as well,' he said. 'It's quite interesting.'
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