Experimental evidence of electrification processes during the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake main shock

Abstract

Two types of coseismic magnetic field events are simultaneously observed: transient offset events and magnetic field signal that occurred at the destructive, Mw6.1 L'Aquila earthquake main shock. The offset event, conventionally interpreted as a signature of piezomagnetic effects, however, could not be explained as such. In the second type of coseismic event, the transient magnetic signal starts simultaneously with the offset event and reaches amplitude of 0.8 nT in the total magnetic field. The signal is a local one; its amplitude shape resembles diffusion-like form with time scale characteristics that are indicative for a source deep in the crust. The polarity of the transient signal is in the horizontal plane and nearly parallel to the L'Aquila fault strike.