Causes of earthquakes

刘秋云+周艳超+杨北成+李艺祺+王宇传+张雪兰+喜仁+蔡黎+陈丽

【Abstract】Regions possessing potential energies， lunar and solar pulls and conservation of angular momentum jointly contribute to the occurrences of earthquakes.

【Key words】earthquakes； potential energies； earth rotation； lunar and solar pulls

Since large earthquakes frequently occur in places where potential energies are present （Kanamori， et al.， 1977） and in places where linear velocities of the earth rotation are large （Varga， et al.， 2005）， their interplay with constantly changing lunar and solar pulls are likely to be the sources of the forces triggering the seismic activities （Kilston， et al.， 1983； Gao， et al.， 1996； Zhao， et al.， 2000； Li， et al.， 2006； Kolvankar， et al.， 2010）. When in full moon or new moon， many regions on earth move the fastest relative to the direction of lunar gravitational pull. The self rotation of the earth is a phenomenon present in the solar gravitational field.

Universal gravitation serves as the force for acceleration， which is irrelevant to the masses of a region （where m is mass and a is accelerated velocity）：

This accumulates strain over long time scale.

However， the impact of plates would observe the law of conservation of momentum：m1?V1=m2?V2=Ft， where ?V represents relative velocity change.

When m2=100m1， then ?V1=100?V2. Smaller masses change speed much more substantially than larger masses upon an impact， which cause an earthquake.

The conservation of angular momentum upon an impact （m1（r+?r）2?ω1 = m2r2?ω2， namely m1ΔV1（r +Δr）=m2ΔV2 r） is proportional to the change of linear velocity and the self rotation radius of the region on earth. This could explain the lack of strong seismic activities in the Polar Regions. The phenomenon of continental drift could be explained by the larger inertia of larger masses. Furthermore， the blocked electron movements upon immense gravity might release enormous heat， and trigger the formation of molten rocks which generate volcanoes on earth and widespread volcanoes with attendant lightening in stars. Continental drift can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruption simultaneously on the earth. The drift of masses possessing potential energies also plays a part in creating deserts and petroleum reserves for allowing minute water and oil leaks in the west of the masses.

The M9.0 Tohoku earthquake was perhaps the result of flat slope of the seabed off the northeast pacific coast of Japan （Asano， et al.， 1983； Hasegawa， et al.， 2005）. The incremental reduction of potential energies resulted in small changes of velocities which accumulated relatively uniform strain over a wide range of areas that kept dormant until the recent energy discharge.

Acknowledgements：

This work on earthquakes and cloning of genes for animal perception of earthquakes was supported by the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation （S2011010004264）， Guangdong Science and Technology Program （No. 2008B020100001）， The National Natural Science Foundation of China （No. 30370799）， Open Fund of MOE Key Laboratory of Aquatic Product Safety， Foreign Expert Program at Sun Yat-sen University， Open Fund of Laboratory （201501024） at Sun Yat-sen University， and The National Natural Science Foundation of China （J1310025） to Q. Liu. We thank Yan Shi for editorial assistance.

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