On the question of human life safety in geologically active zones

Abstract

Today geological active zones unite active faults of lithosphere especially earth’s crust and caused by them zones of increased permeability such as paleo-valleys and underground water flows, karst and geological bodies, that are different in terms of composition and structure from the enclosing rocks. There is an evidence that mortality in geologically active zones increases dramatically, mental instability is detected and road accidents are more frequent. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the frequency of suicides among the residents of Saint Petersburg living above the geologically active zones and outside these zones and the influence of geomagnetic and gravitational disturbances on them. The dynamics of suicides among residents of 446 high-rise building in the territory of the Kalininsky and Vasileostrovsky districts of the city of Saint Petersburg is analyzed. Geological structure of those buildings was most studied. From 1999 to 2003 there were 268 suicides among the residents of such buildings. The group A included homes that were at least 40 m above the nearest tectonic fault. Group B included residential buildings located above or in the immediate vicinity of the faults. During the geomagnetic storms, full moon and new moon periods the number of suicides in a group A decreased. Magnetic storms and gravitational disturbances did not affect the frequency of suicides in a group B. There is also no significant correlation between dynamics of suicides and daily values of the K-index of the geomagnetic field, as well as between dynamics of suicides and the 3-hour geomagnetic activity in both groups. Results of studies presented in this paper show that there is no evidence of a significant negative impact of tectonic faults on people living above them.

Keywords

• suicides
• tectonic faults
• geomagnetic storms
• gravitational disturbances
• apartment houses
• K-index
• life safety