Phenomenology of earthquakes

TL;DR

This paper reviews the application of phenomenological physics concepts to earthquake analysis, highlighting the preliminary stage of developing a comprehensive phenomenology of seismic phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces the idea of applying general physics phenomenology to earthquake analysis, laying groundwork for future theoretical development.

Findings

Use of phenomenological concepts aids in analyzing seismicity.

Current state is preliminary, serving as prolegomena for future theory.

Highlights potential of physics-based approaches in seismology.

Abstract

Phenomenology is the unity of principles and methods of studying the essence of phenomena. This paper is a concise review of recent works in which the phenomenological ideas of physics are used to analyze earthquakes. An example of a phenomenological theory is thermodynamics. Maxwell's electrodynamics is also a perfect example of a phenomenological theory. The phenomenology of earthquakes has not yet reached such a level. So far, we have reached the status of prolegomena for the future phenomenology of earthquakes. The current state can be characterized as preliminary. Nevertheless, in this paper, using specific examples, it is shown that when searching for the foundations of a theory, when processing and analyzing specific manifestations of seismicity, it is useful to use phenomenological concepts of general physics. Keywords: geodynamics, Omori law, Batth law, master equation, deactivation factor, inverse problem, proper time, global seismicity, waiting time, triggers, triad of earthquakes, self-oscillations of the Earth.