VARIATIONS OF LOW ENERGY NEUTRONS AND EARTHʹS SEISMOACTIVITY

Аннотация

The results of the study of variations in the intensity of slow neutrons at the high-altitude Tien-Shan
cosmic ray station (3340 m above sea level, 20 km from Almaty) are presented. The effect of cosmic and
geophysical events on the flux of thermal and epithermal neutrons was successively analyzed. The comparison was
made with well-known variations of high-energy neutrons of galactic origin recorded by the 18NM64 monitor. Like
the 18NM64 neutron monitor, the installation for detecting thermal and epithermal neutrons is located near the
Zailiysky fault of the earth's crust.
It has been established that, in the absence of seismic activity, the variations of thermal neutrons on the earth's
surface are of the same nature as the high-energy neutrons recorded by the monitor 18NM64. However, during the
activation of seismic activity, the frequent breakdown of the correlation between the intensity of thermal and highenergy
neutrons was noted. The cause of this phenomenon is the additional thermal neutron flux of the lithospheric
origin, which appears under these conditions. It is shown that the amplitude of the additional thermal neutron flux
from the Earth's crust is equal to 5-7% of the background level.
A difference was found also in the spectral composition of variations of slow and high-energy neutrons in the
range (2·10-7 ÷ 2·10-6) Hz. Variations, due to the gravitational influence of the moon, are present throughout the
12-year period of research of thermal neutrons. The amplitude and its dynamics were determined. The analysis of our
catalog of earthquakes in the vicinity of Almaty with an intensity of ≥ 3 points showed that ~ 65÷70% of these events
occurred during the full moon or new moon.