Earthquake

Earthquake — tremors and vibrations of the Earth's surface, the shift of tectonic plates.

According to modern views, earthquakes reflect the process of geological transformation of the planet. It is believed that the root cause of earthquakes are global geological and tectonic forces, but at present their nature is not completely understood. The appearance of these forces is associated with temperature changes in the bowels of the Earth. Most earthquakes occur on the margins of tectonic plates.

A small earthquake and previous manifestations can be mistaken for something mystical: UFOs, will-o'-the-wisps, poltergeist, etc.

Seismologists are well aware that even weak earthquakes can be accompanied by an underground rumble, and in addition to it, the glow of the atmosphere.

Next, we are talking about natural phenomena that give signals to people before the onset of strong earthquakes.

1. The glow of the air, the sky, as well as flashes in the sky. For example, during the earthquake of 1703 in Genroku (Japan), which had a magnitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale, for several nights before and after the strongest shock, eyewitnesses observed the glow of the air. The same thing happened during the Ashgabat tragedy on October 5, 1948 (earthquake magnitude 7.6).

Geophysicist V. P. Savchenko, who was caught by the impact of the underground elements on the streets of the city, told about it like this:

"It all started suddenly. A low, heavy rumble was heard, the ground suddenly disappeared from under his feet. A new jolt, even stronger than the previous one, threw me to the ground. People were screaming all around, and in the weak light of the lantern, I saw with horror how the nearest house collapsed, turning into a curtain of dust. And then something worse happened: the air began to flare up... You must have read in science fiction novels how a person, before entering another, alien world, is either enveloped in a "dead greenish fog", or enters a "ghostly blue glow", or something even worse... And here is a fantasy in reality, plus a threatening rumble, a rumble, trees swaying like blades of grass in the wind."

2. The glow of stripes, arcs, vertical pillars or torches. So, during the earthquake on the Izu Peninsula (Japan) on November 26, 1930 (magnitude 7), according to local residents, long stripes resembling the northern lights appeared in the sky.

So a witness of the Ashgabat disaster, meteorologist Pomutsky, told about this:

"Before going to bed, I went out to get some fresh air. Suddenly, blinding bright electric discharges appeared. They formed an arc that moved from the mountains in my direction and sank into the ground near the water tower 30-40 meters away from me. Then a gust of wind followed. It stopped instantly, and immediately the earth trembled."

 3. Luminous objects in a shape close to spherical. For example, during the earthquake of 1911 in Germany, fireballs began to appear in the cloudless sky. A similar picture was observed by fishermen who were going to launch a boat in the evening shortly before the earthquake on the Izu Peninsula (1930): they suddenly saw a bright spherical body to the west of Mount Amagi, rushing at high speed in a north-westerly direction.

Japanese scientist T. Terada found a historical document that says literally the following:

"Against the background of the dark sky, a fiery cloud appeared in the direction of Mount Iduna. It was visible as it rotated and then disappeared. Immediately after that, there was a crash, followed by a strong earthquake." 

4. The glow of surrounding objects: soil, machinery, wires and disconnected fluorescent lamps. For example, during the 1940 Carpathian earthquake (magnitude 7.5), eyewitnesses observed the glow of soil and mountain peaks in the epicentral region. A similar case occurred during an underground strike on October 24, 1959 with a magnitude of 5.7 in Central Asia (its epicenter was 70 km from Tashkent): bluish flames engulfed the slopes of the mountain ranges surrounding the villages. A very extraordinary testimony came from one witness of the earthquake in Kamchatka on July 5, 1971: in the village of Krutoberegovoye (it is located about 100 km from the epicenter), at the moment of the shock, the hood of a tractor on rubber tires suddenly lit up. There may also be a glow of a predominantly red hue of communication lines and power lines. Tashkent earthquake: shortly before the tremors, some eyewitnesses noticed the spontaneous glow of the switched-off fluorescent lamps. The glow stopped an hour and a half after the first shock.

 In the late 80s, the staff of the Abastuman Astrophysical Observatory of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, T. I. Toroshelidze and L. M. Fishkova, found that a few hours before the earthquake began, the intensity of the glow of the green line of atomic oxygen increases high in the atmosphere (about 100 km) above the epicenter.

According to scientists, the excitation of the upper layers of the atmosphere occurs under the influence of infrasound waves from the hearth of the upcoming earthquake. In fact, an avalanche-like increase in the number of microcracks in the earth's crust before the shock can generate infrasound. If its intensity is high enough, then, spreading upwards, infrasound waves are able to transfer part of their energy to oxygen atoms, forcing them to re-emit it in the form of light with a wavelength characteristic of this element.