Earthquake lights and the stress-activation of positive hole charge carriers in rocks

St-Laurent, France; Derr, John S.; Freund, Friedemann

doi:10.1016/j.pce.2006.02.003

Cited by 67 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…At the surface, electrical fields were produced by these waves, and caused acceleration of local free electrons, creating the light, because ULF itself does not cause ionization. However (St-Laurent, Derr, and Freund, 2006), there are major difficulties with the model, i.e. two mirrorimage forms of quartz will always occur in a 1:1 ratio and their piezoelectric effects cancel when there are many small crystals.…”

Section: Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since under their test conditions, other rocks did not, their conclusion was that quartz was somehow involved, but the following work suggests that they were observing a unique mechanism in quartz that is called here "Freundtype". This model (e.g. Freund et al, 2009;St-Laurent et al, 2006) is based on extensive laboratory experiments in which high pressure on gabbro and diorite produced a flow of current to the surface due to rapid movement of positively charged "holes" in a quartz matrix from breaking peroxy-bonds that are a natural trace impurity (the balancing excess electrons produced do not move). The speed of movement of the holes may be 200 m sec , and many thousand cubic kilometers of rock are probably involved in an earthquake.…”

Section: Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accounts like the above "ground aurora" of observer #2, exist (Terada, 1931), (Derr, 1973), (Tsukuda, 1997), (St-Laurent et al, 2006), (Fidani, 2010) but mostly with scanty detail or with "streamers", rather than curtains. A closer parallel is a Quebec observation (St-Laurent, 2000).…”

Section: Ground Forces In the "Ground Aurora"mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Origin of Earthquake Light Associated with Earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2010-2011

Whitehead

Ulusoy

2015

Earth sci. res. j.

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Earthquake light (EQL) mainly blue-white flashes from the ground, was observed coseismically during a New Zealand M7.1 earthquake, (4.47 am 4-Sep-2010 local time). A local production mechanism is most probable. The blue-white flash observations support the Freund et al. mechanism, i.e. shockwave disturbance creating electronic "holes" from ruptured peroxy bonds in quartz, and subsequent surface positive charge from the ground, followed by light emission during neutralization. Examination of video records shows the flash median length is about half a second and needs to be differentiated from the light during electricity supply short circuits. Observed ground-level white colors appear to result from very intense non-specific air ionization. Blue colors seem to be nitrogen emission with a short lifetime, succeeded by green oxygen emissions with longer lifetime followed by much lower intensity red. These were created by transient low-to-moderate voltages and probably include significant UV production. The maximum likely radiation dose is small, restricted to the skin, and equivalent at most to a few months natural background radiation. Calculations confirm the release of 222 Rn is not the major mechanism for creating earthquake light, and would contribute minimal radiation dose. Other unique observations are: streamers of light changing from blue to green as they passed from west to east, vertical sheets of blue-green light from cracks in an asphalt road surface, created by local shockwaves and shearing forces, daylight observation by fishermen of rapid linear undersea travel of blue light seconds before a 2011 M6.0 aftershock, and a mid-day green-blue glow over nearby hills containing a fault zone, shortly before the further destructive M6.3 earthquake, (12.51 pm 22-Feb-2011).Las luces de terremoto o EQL (del inglés "Earth Quake Light") son principalmente azul blancas y fueron cosísmicamente observadas durante un terremoto de magnitud 7.1 en Nueva Zelanda (4:47 a.m., 4 de septiembre de 2010, hora local). Es muy probable que el fenómeno haya sido producto de un mecanismo local. Las observaciones del destello azul blanco coinciden con el mecanismo de Freund y otros, esto es, la alteración de un movimiento sísmico que crea "agujeros" electrónicos a partir de lazos de ácido peroxi rotos en cuarzos, con carga positiva superficial consecuente del suelo, y seguida por la emisión de luz durante la neutralización. La revisión de grabaciones de video muestra que la duración del destello es de cerca de medio segundo y debe ser diferenciado de la luz generada por los cortos circuitos del fluido eléctrico. Los colores blancos observados a nivel del terreno parecen resultar de una intensa ionización aérea no específica. Los colores azules serían emisiones de nitrógeno con un corto período de duración, sucedidas por emisiones de oxígeno verde de mayor duración y seguidas por un rojo mucho menos intenso. Estos colores fueron creados por voltajes transitorios de bajo a moderados y probablemente incluyen una producción significativ...

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Section: Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Origin of Earthquake Light Associated with Earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2010-2011

Whitehead

Ulusoy

2015

Earth sci. res. j.

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“…[64] Earthquake lightnings (EQL) have been reported on several occasions during large magnitude seismic events [e.g., Derr, 1973;Persinger and Derr, 1983;Ouellet, 1990;Tsukuda, 1997;St-Laurent et al, 2006]. Other seismically related electromagnetic signals have also been reported [e.g., Rikitake, 1997;Ogawa and Utada, 2000;Tzanis et al, 2000;Vallianatos et al, 2004].…”

Section: Lightning Isothermal Remanent Magnetization (Lirm)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic properties of fault pseudotachylytes in granites

Ferré¹,

Geissman²,

Zechmeister³

2012

J. Geophys. Res.

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[1] We investigate the petrographic, geochemical and magnetic properties of fault pseudotachylytes formed by frictional melting in granitic rocks from Southern California, the Italian Alps and Kyushyu, Japan. The main magnetic remanence carriers are mixtures of grain sizes of fine grained magnetite. These ferrimagnetic grains record a stable, multicomponent magnetization that consists of one or more of the following: coseismic thermal remanent magnetization, coseismic lightning isothermal remanent magnetization and post-seismic chemical remanent magnetization. Fault pseudotachylytes from the three localities display contrasting magnetic properties, which suggests that oxygen fugacity and host rock composition ultimately control the magnetic assemblage.

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“…Numerous laboratory experiments including many fracture tests have been conducted on various minerals and rocks both dry and saturated in order to understand and interpret the nature of the mechanisms responsible for the production of such electrical signals (Yoshida et al, 1998;Vallianatos et al, 2004;St-Laurent et al, 2006). The most recent experiment employed an arrangement suitable for recording the electric currents emitted by geomaterial samples during the application of either an abrupt uniaxial stress increase or a monotonically increasing stress up to Correspondence to: D. Triantis (triantis@ee.teiath.gr) sample fracture .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric signal emissions during repeated abrupt uniaxial compressional stress steps in amphibolite from KTB drilling

Triantis

Anastasiadis

Vallianatos

et al. 2007

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract.Laboratory experiments have confirmed that the application of uniaxial stress on rock samples is accompanied by the production of weak electric currents, to which the term Pressure Stimulated Currents -PSC has been attributed. In this work the PSC emissions in amphibolite samples from KTB drilling are presented and commented upon. After having applied sequential loading and unloading cycles on the amphibolite samples, it was ascertained that in every new loading cycle after unloading, the emitted PSC exhibits lower peaks. This attitude of the current peaks is consistent with the acoustic emissions phenomena, and in this work is verified for PSC emissions during loading -unloading procedures. Consequently, the evaluation of such signals can help to correlate the state and the remaining strength of the sample with respect to the history of its mechanical stress.

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Earthquake lights and the stress-activation of positive hole charge carriers in rocks

Cited by 67 publications

References 17 publications

Origin of Earthquake Light Associated with Earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2010-2011

Origin of Earthquake Light Associated with Earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2010-2011

Magnetic properties of fault pseudotachylytes in granites

Electric signal emissions during repeated abrupt uniaxial compressional stress steps in amphibolite from KTB drilling

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