Seismo-electromagnetism is becoming a hot interdisciplinary study in both geosciences and electromagnetism. Numerous electromagnetic changes at a broad range of frequencies associated with earthquakes have been reported independently. There are some attempts of applying such electromagnetic data to short-term earthquake prediction. Although due to the complexity of seismogenic process and underground structure, the seismic electromagnetic phenomena cannot be fully understood, the seismic electromagnetic study plays a key role in the mitigation of seismic hazard.
China is one of the countries which have the earliest reports on seismo-electromagnetic phenomena. The seismic electromagnetic study in China started in late 1960’s. There are almost 50 years continuous observation data up to now, which provides a unique database for seismo-electromagnetic study not only in China, but also in the world. Therefore, seismo-electromagnetic study in China is interested broadly by international communities of geosciences and electromagnetism.
I present here a brief review on seismic electromagnetic study in China, especially focusing on geo-electromagnetic observation and empirical prediction based on the observation data. After summarizing various electromagnetic observations such as apparent resistivity, geoelectric potential, geomagnetic field, electromagnetic disturbance, and so on, I show the cases of the empirical prediction based on the observed electromagnetic data associated with some earthquakes in China. Finally, based on the above review, I propose an integrated research scheme of earthquake-related electromagnetic phenomena, which includes the interaction between appropriate observations, robust methodology of data processing, and theoretical model analysis.
This study is supported partially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41274075) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB845903). |