Relationship between Seismic Activity and Variations in the Earth’s Rotation Angular Velocity

Abstract

The Earth's seismic activity (SA) demonstrates a distinct unevenness both in space and in time. The periods of intensification of seismic activity are followed by periods of its decline. In this work, an attempt was first made to determine the effect of low-frequency components of the variations in the angular velocity of the Earth's rotation (AVER) on the dynamics of its seismic activity (for 1720 – 2017). Analysis of the time series of the density of seismic events and variations in the Earth's rotation velocity of about 300 years shows that each stage of reducing the angular velocity of rotation (braking) is accompanied by an increase in the density of seismic events, and the stages of increasing the angular velocity of rotation (acceleration) are accompanied by a decrease in the density of events. At present, the Earth is entering a new phase of deceleration (since 2005), which in recent years has already led to an increase in the global seismic activity.