Variations in geoacoustic emissions in a deep borehole and its correlation with seismicity

Abstract

Continuous geoacoustic emission (GAE) measurements were acquired using a three-component geophone placed in a borehole at a depth of near 1000 m at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky starting in August 2000. Using geophones consisting of magneto-elastic crystal ferromagnetic sensors, and installed at such a depth allows measurement of natural geoacoustic background with signal amplitude less than 1×10-4 m/s3 in frequency band from 3 to 1500 Hz. According to the data from a 4-year survey period the characteristics of diurnal geoacoustic variations change before every earthquake with MLH≥ 5.0 that occurs at a distance of less than 300 km from the observation point or before each earthquake with MLH≥5.5 occurring at distance R≤550 km from the observation point. The changes in GAE regime correlate with the strongest earthquakes that occurred during survey period. Measurements of the natural electromagnetic field of the Earth were carried out simultaneously with the help of an underground electric antenna. The behavior of GAE in aseismic periods appears to be related to the effect of diurnal variations of the natural electromagnetic field.