THE INFLUENCE OF WATER ON THE FORMATION OF EARTHQUAKE SOURCE

Аннотация

A hypothesis is proposed to explain the relationship between the number of earthquakes and
geographical latitude. Analysis of ultra-deep well drilling results showed that the boundaries of seismic wave
reflection that were taken beyond the boundary between the granite and basalt layers were actually related to the rock
decompression zone due to increased porosity and microcracking in the main granite layer. These cracks allow water
to penetrate the rocks while being compressed and heated at the same time. Calculations show that at a depth of
30 km the temperature should be 460 degrees, and at 42 kilometers (at the base of the Earth 's crust) - already
580 degrees. The pressure at these depths is 3000 and 4200 atmospheres, respectively. When the temperature reaches
374.3 degrees Celsius and 221 atmospheres, the water changes to a supercritical state. In this state, water has special
properties, in particular, increased solubility of various substances and high oxidative capacity. It mixes freely with
oxygen, hydrogen, and hydrocarbons. Even with a small change in pressure and temperature, complete dissolution
or, conversely, precipitation of oxides and salts can occur. The pressure required to achieve the supercritical state is
already reached at a depth of 2.2 kilometers. The required temperature is reached at depths of 20-25 kilometers.
However, in areas of magmatic hearths, this temperature can be reached at significantly lesser depths. The
dissolution of rocks can lead to the formation of cavities like karst, the collapse of the arches of which leads to the
collapse of large arrays of rocks with the formation of new cavities over the filled-in cavity, leading to the formation
of sub-vertical clusters of earthquake hypocenters, called seismic "nails". At the same time, a Coriolis force
proportional to the cosine of latitude must act on the water moving underground. The distribution of the centers of
strong earthquakes shows a more sharp decrease in their latitude, proportional to the third degree of the cosine of
latitude. These calculations show that the number of earthquakes correlates fairly well with the cubic root of latitude.
An additional factor, which also depends on latitude, may be the increase in rock treadiness, which increases towards
the equator in proportion to the square of latitude, reducing rock resistance to fluid movement and resulting in an
increase in the speed of movement of the rocks.