Electromagnetic Earthquake Triggering: Field Observations, Laboratory Experiments, and Physical Mechanisms—A Review
V. A. Zeigarnik, Л. М. Богомолов, В. А. Новиков
Abstract
Abstract—A review of the pioneering studies on the electromagnetic triggered seismicity carried out in Russia in 1995–2020 is presented. Field observations of artificial and natural electromagnetic impacts on seismicity are analyzed. The results of physical modeling of triggering a fracture and a “laboratory earthquake” by electric impulses on a specialized press machine and on a spring-block model of a crustal fault are described. The probable mechanisms of the triggering electromagnetic impact on the deformation processes in the earthquake source are considered. The results of the field experiments, laboratory modeling, and theoretical analysis carried out over the past 25 years prove the existence of a new type of triggering impact on the deformation processes in the Earth crust—the electromagnetic triggering of seismic events. The possible ways of applying electromagnetic triggered seismicity to reduce seismic hazard are discussed.