The application of the magnetotelluric impedance tensor to earthquake prediction research in Greece

Abstract Continuous short period (0.1–3600 s) measurements of the magnetotelluric field components were conducted simultaneously at two sites in Greece for a period of 5 weeks. The estimation of the impedance tensor elements from 8-hr windows of recorded data, at each station, is found to describe the local electromagnetic induction with great accuracy. The computation of the residual electric field, obtained as the difference between the observed and estimated inductive part of the electric fields, clearly improves the detection of any local electric field anomaly. This method was used in an attempt to detect precursory Sci smic electrical signals (SES) that have been reported to precede earthquakes in Greece. The results indicate the success of this method in resolving ambiguities about the nature of the reported SES, i.e. whether it has an external or internal source. Although during the recording period no large earthquake occurred, five with a magnitude of between M L = 4.0 and M L = 4.3 occurred within a radius of 150 km from one of the stations. The magnetotelluric recordings and the computed residual electric fields for the time intervals reported to contain the SES precursors to these events were analysed in some detail. In two of the cases it was found that the sources could not be related to earthquake processes. In the other three cases the nature of the source of the suspected SES, although electric, could not be established with certainty. These results indicate that for earthquakes of small magnitude ( M L ≤ 4.3) or of large epicentral distance ( r ≥ 100 km), the detection of a SES is extremely difficult.