Do large EQs occur randomly in time? The Mexico EQ (20th of March, 2012, Mw = 7.4) as viewed in terms of local lithospheric oscillation due to M1 and K1 tidal components. A brief presentation

TL;DR

This study investigates whether large earthquakes, like the 2012 Mexico quake, occur randomly or are influenced by local lithospheric oscillations caused by tidal components, supporting a physical mechanism for earthquake triggering.

Contribution

It demonstrates a correlation between the timing of a large earthquake and local tidal peaks, supporting the lithospheric oscillation hypothesis for earthquake triggering.

Findings

The Mexico earthquake occurred near the peak of local tidal components.

The earthquake's timing aligns with the proposed lithospheric oscillation mechanism.

Supports potential for short-term earthquake prediction based on tidal analysis.

Abstract

The time of occurrence of the large EQ that occurred recently in Mexico (March 20th, 2012, Mw = 7.4) is compared to the peak amplitude occurrence time of the local M1 and K1 tidal components. It is shown that the specific EQ occurred one (-1) day before the next following peak of the M1 tidal component, and was delayed for only +20 minutes after the corresponding K1 tidal peak. Therefore, the specific seismic event complies quite well with the earlier proposed physical mechanism (lithospheric oscillation) that causes triggering of large EQs. Key words: Mexico, large earthquakes, M1 tidal wave, K1 tidal wave, lithospheric oscillations, tidal oscillations, short-term earthquake prediction.