How Earthquakes are linked with Geomagnetic Storms!


Till today we believe that the sudden release of energy triggers an earth quake, but after studying the solar dynamics and the solar storms scientists have been able to find a link between the earthquakes and solar storms. Now from this we cannot say that the main cause of earthquakes is an  geomagnetic storm. Thus geomagnetic storm is not the primary  cause for an Earthquake, but the chances of an Earthquake certainly rises when there is an ongoing Geomagnetic storm.


Well this is very interesting. I mean those who are new to this topic might have heard that there are holes in our Geomagnetic field. We all know that Geomagnetic Field defends us from the deadly waves of the sun and also not allows the neutrino to pass through. yes that’s possible but till now nothing of that sort has happened (and hope that nothing of this sort will happen).   this is the model of the solar wind that breaches the Geomagnetic field. Sun is very dynamic , it has processes going on and that forms great energy and fumes . The fumes of sun has polarities , when the extreme of this fume breaks it breaks from the sun’s and a powerful solar wind is created.

Solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper surface of the sun. Due to this solar wind phenomena like Aurora and Geomagnetic storms are created.


Auroras are a night-light display which take place at high latitudes (Arctic and Antarctic). These natural lights are caused due to the collision of the electrical charged particles.Most aurorae occur in a band known as the auroral zone which is typically 3° to 6° in latitudinal extent and at all local times or longitudes. The auroral zone is typically 10° to 20° from the magnetic pole defined by the axis of the Earth’s magnetic dipole. During a geomagnetic storm, the auroral zone will expand to lower latitudes. The diffuse aurora is a featureless glow in the sky which may not be visible to the naked eye even on a dark night and defines the extent of the auroral zone. The discrete aurorae are sharply defined features within the diffuse aurora which vary in brightness from just barely visible to the naked eye to bright enough to read a newspaper at night.

File:Red and green aurora.jpg

Red and green Aurora in Fairbanks, Alaska. linking geomagnetic storm to earthquakesphotographed by Mila Zinkova

File:Southern Lights from ISS.jpg

View of the Aurora Australis from the International Space Station

File:Aurora Borealis Seen From Space by NASA.jpg

An image from the International Space Station shows a bright green and red aurora over our planet. The red coloring is reportedly caused by nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere being bombarded with radiation from a solar flare.

How are Earthquake linked with geomagnetic storms

Now we know how the Solar Winds cause Geomagnetic storms. Now let us know how Earthquake is linked with Geomagnetic storms.

The earthquake that started this research was 02/03/2011 N. Zealand earthquake.

linking geomagnetic storm to earthquakes

As we can see in the above figure, every part of the Earth there is a particular inclination. This inclination is different everywhere on the surface. Now breaking it down into three components X,Y and Z.

now the second image shows the model of electric current flow in the lithosphere in presence of the main magnetic field of the earth (horizontal intensity H ).  A Torque is generated , which acts on the Earth’s lithosphere (Lorentz Force \mathbf{F}=q[\mathbf{E}+(\mathbf{v}\times\mathbf{B})].) .Center of Vortex Q , center of seismic region P.


This relation is quite unrealistic but its needs more proof and more theories to support it. As a person i definitely think that Geomagnetic storms can in turn increase the chances of an Earthquake. Till now we have absolutely no idea how to predict an Earthquake, but now by keeping track of the solar activity we have a chance to do that.

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