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Lithospheric Electromagnetic Emissions Associated with Some Major Earthquakes Occurred in Indian Subcontinent

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Abstract

The data related to lithospheric electromagnetic emissions such as ultra low frequency (ULF, f = 0.01 Hz–10 Hz) and very low frequency (VLF,  f = 3 kHz–30 kHz) emissions are analysed in relation to three major earthquakes (M = 6.8–8.5) occurred in Indian subcontinent during the years, 2011–2013. The equipments used to collect the data are thee component search coil magnetometer installed at Agra station (geographic lat. 27.2° N, long. 78° E) and indigenously developed amplitude measurements using a borehole and terrestrial antenna at Mathura station (geographic lat. 27.5° N, long. 77.68° E) about 70 km North of Agra station. The results show that ULF anomalies occur in the form of amplitude bursts 9 to 16 days prior to main shocks of the earthquakes whereas VLF amplitude anomalies occur coseismic and 3 days before recorded by the terrestrial antenna (the anomalies are weak and do not occur clearly in borehole antenna). These results suggest that ULF emissions (f < 0.1Hz) can travel to the observing station both via crustal and atmospheric regions, whereas VLF emissions can travel via atmospheric region only. The ULF data are compared with those obtained at two other stations of Shillong and Kachchh and malfunctioning of the sensors is ruled out. The effect of magnetic storms and lightning are not found to influence the data also. The precursory periods of 9–16 days are of the same order as 7–15 days reported by Singh et al. (2018) from the study of ionospheric perturbations caused by the same earthquakes. Hence, this study provides an interesting information about lithosphere–ionosphere coupling.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are thankful to the Directors of IIG, Mumbai and ISR, Gandhinagar for providing the ULF data and Heads of other institutes for providing facilities for this research work. Thanks are also due to the Editor for his support in systematic and fast processing of the paper. Authors are highly thankful to the esteemed referee for their suggestions which enhanced the quality of the paper.

Funding

Authors are grateful to Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India for their financial support in the form of a research project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, GLA University, Chaumuhan, Mathura, India

    Sarita Sharma & Raj Pal Singh

  2. Department of Electronics and Communication, RBS Engineering Technical Campus, Bichpuri, Agra, India

    Swati & Birbal Singh

  3. Department of Physics, RBS Engineering Technical Campus, Bichpuri, Agra, India

    Devbrat Pundhir

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  1. Sarita Sharma
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Correspondence to Devbrat Pundhir.

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Sarita Sharma, Swati, Singh, R.P. et al. Lithospheric Electromagnetic Emissions Associated with Some Major Earthquakes Occurred in Indian Subcontinent. Geomagn. Aeron. 61, 619–631 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793221040150

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