Diurnal patterns in the frequency distribution of shallow and deep earthquakes underneath the ocean

As the Earth turns, quasi-stationary electrical currents on the order of >100,000 amps that circulate in the ionosphere above the sunlit side of the Earth induce electric currents into the oceans and the Earth's crust. The depth of penetration is a function of the frequency and of the attenuation in the overlying electric conductive medium. The cross product of the induced currents and the Earth's magnetic field generates a Lorentz force. The direction of the force vector changes over the course of the day like the hands of a clock. When a sufficiently strong Lorentz force acts parallel or antiparallel to existing tectonic force vectors it can induce earthquakes1. We analyzed the diurnal patterns of deep earthquakes underneath the Pacific and of shallow earthquakes associated with the mid-Atlantic ridge. We expected no diurnal patterns for deep earthquakes, due to the screening by the overlying crust and ocean, but possibly some diurnal patterns for shallow earthquakes along the mid-ocean ridge. Indeed, one deep earthquake areas underneath the Pacific did not show a discernable diurnal pattern, while aftershock activity made it difficult to ascertain the absence of a diurnal pattern in another area of deep seismic activity. Shallow earthquakes along the ridges tend to show a distinct diurnal pattern down to hypocenter depths of about 10 km, less so and apparently different for the hypocenter depth range >10 km. 1 Duma, G., and Y. Ruzhin (2003), Diurnal changes of earthquake activity and geomagnetic Sq-variations, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 3, 171-177.