Foreshocks of strong earthquakes

Abstract

The specific enhancement of ultra-low-frequency (ULF) electromagnetic oscillations a few hours prior to the strong earthquakes, which was previously mentioned in the literature, motivated us to search for the distinctive features of the mechanical (foreshock) activity of the Earth’s crust in the epicentral zones of the future earthquakes. Activation of the foreshocks three hours before the main shock is revealed, which is roughly similar to the enhancement of the specific electromagnetic ULF emission. It is hypothesized that the round-the-world seismic echo signals from the earthquakes, which form the peak of energy release 2 h 50 min before the main events, act as the triggers of the main shocks due to the cumulative action of the surface waves converging to the epicenter. It is established that the frequency of the fluctuations in the foreshock activity decreases at the final stages of the preparation of the main shocks, which probably testifies to the so-called mode softening at the approach of the failure point according to the catastrophe theory.