Some comments on the potential seismogenic origin of magnetic disturbances observed by Di Lorenzo et al. (2011) close to the time of the 6 April 2009 L’Aquila earthquake

Abstract

In this paper we provide comments about the potential seismogenic origin of magnetic disturbances that Di Lorenzo et al. (2011) observed from few minutes before to about one hour after the 6 April 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. The coincidence with the earthquake induced the authors to think that the observed magnetic signals were linked to the main phase of the seismic event. Here, we will discuss the unusual polarization in the X-Z plane of the magnetic disturbances observed by Di Lorenzo et al. (2011), the model of source that the authors have proposed for the generation of these signals, and the time length of the magnetic dataset shown in their paper. We will also discuss some possible generation mechanisms for electromagnetic seismogenic signals that could support the authors’ findings. Finally, we will consider seismic and geodetic data from L’Aquila area just before and after the 6 April 2009 earthquake. We conclude that there is no evidence to support the hypothesis that magnetic disturbances documented by Di Lorenzo et al. (2011) had a seismogenic origin.