Application of polarization ellipse technique for analysis of ULF magnetic fields from two distant stations in Koyna-Warna seismoactive region, West India (original) (raw)

A new approach is developed to find the source azimuth of the ultra low frequency (ULF) electromagnetic (EM) signals believed to be emanating from well defined seismic zone. The method is test applied on magnetic data procured from the seismoactive region of Koyna-Warna, known for prolonged reservoir triggered seismicity. Extremely low-noise, high-sensitivity LEMI-30 search coil magnetometers were used to measure simultaneously the vector magnetic field in the frequency range 0.001-32 Hz at two stations, the one located within and another ∼100 km away from the seismic active zone. During the observation campaign extending from 15 March to 30 June 2006 two earthquakes (EQs) of magnitude (M L >4) occurred, which are searched for the presence of precursory EM signals. Comparison of polarization ellipses (PE) parameters formed by the magnetic field components at the measurement stations, in select frequency bands, allows discrimination of seismo-EM signals from the natural background ULF signals of magnetospheric/ionospheric origin. The magnetic field components corresponding to spectral bands dominated by seismo-EM fields define the PE plane which at any instant contains the source of the EM fields. Intersection lines of such defined PE planes for distant observation stations clutter in to the source region. Approximating the magnetic-dipole configuration for the source, the magnetic field components along the intersection lines suggest that azimuth of the EM source align in the NNW-SSE direction. This direction well