Decomposing the "strange attractor like" seismic electric precursor into simpler components

TL;DR

This study decomposes complex seismic electric precursors into simpler components using non-linear inversion, revealing that the 'strange attractor like' phase maps are preserved and simplified, aiding understanding of earthquake precursors.

Contribution

It introduces a method to decompose seismic electric precursors into signal and noise components, clarifying their geometric and physical properties.

Findings

Preservation of predictive properties in simplified phase maps

Identification of regional stress interactions as the precursor mechanism

Decomposition into elementary oscillating electric fields

Abstract

An attempt is made in this work to decompose the "strange attractor like" seismic electric precursor into more simple and elementary components. The basic data files of the orthogonal (NS, EW) components of the Earth's electric field used for the compilation of the corresponding phase maps are decomposed by a joint non-linear inversion scheme into two basic oscillating electric fields. The first one, called "signal", is attributed to a single current source while the second, called "noise", is attributed to the mix-up of some regional and randomly located current sources. The comparison of the phase maps compiled from the raw data files to the ones compiled by the "signal" and "noise" data shows that the newly compiled "strange attractor like" phase maps preserve their predictive property while their appearance resembles simpler geometrical shapes (pure hyperbolas and ellipses). Moreover, it is postulated that its generating mechanism is the stress waves applied in the regional area by the combined interaction of the Sun, Moon and Earth (tidal waves). The latter mechanism, when the seismogenic area is under critical stress-charge conditions, triggers new current sources at places where the stress has reached locally critical stress levels and hence the "strange attractor like" seismic precursor is generated.