Fractal analysis of ULF electromagnetic emissions in possible association with earthquakes in China

Abstract

The long-term data (during the period of 1 March 2003 through 31 December 2006) of ULF geomagnetic variations observed at Kashi station (geographic coordinates: 39.5° N, 76.0° E) in China have been used to investigate the long-term variation of fractal dimension of ULF emissions. We have studied the changes in fractal dimension in association with several earthquakes around the observation station. It is then found that a significant change (or decrease) in the fractal dimension of the <i>Z</i> component took place before the 1 September 2003 earthquake, which lends a further support to our previous finding based on our improved polarization analysis for the same earthquake. The results obtained are discussed in the contexts of a few aspects (detectability of seismogenic emissions, comparison with previous results by other analysis methods, the importance of fractal analysis in the nonlinear process of the lithosphere and earthquake prediction).