On a preseismic electric field "strange attractor" like precursor observed short before large earthquakes

TL;DR

This study analyzes Earth's electric field signals from Greece using chaos theory to identify a precursor pattern involving phase map transitions, which could predict large earthquakes days in advance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method of analyzing electric field data with chaos theory to identify a preseismic electric precursor pattern.

Findings

Phase maps show hyperbolas long before EQs.

Transition to ellipses occurs days before EQs.

Reversion to hyperbolas signals imminent earthquakes.

Abstract

The Earth's electric field, recorded by two different and distant monitoring sites located in Greece, is analyzed in terms of monochromatic signals (T=24h). The analysis is based on the mapping procedures borrowed from the study of non-linear dynamic systems and chaos. The specific analysis applied on the electric field recorded for some weeks before the occurrence of 3 large EQs which occurred in Greece shows some very interesting results. Long before the EQ occurrence the phase map generated by the uncorrelated each other signals recorded by a pair of distant monitoring sites is characterized by pairs of hyperbolas of random azimuth asymptotes. Some days before the occurrence of the earthquake the recorded signals are strongly correlated and therefore the phase map is characterized by ellipses. A couple of days before the EQ occurrence the electric signals become again uncorrelated due to the fact that their generating mechanism (large scale piezoelectricity) approaches its final stage and therefore hyperbolas characterize again the phase map. When this stage is observed the pending EQ shortly (in terms of days) takes place. Three detailed examples from large Greek EQs are presented towards the validation of this mechanism.