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Bam Earthquake Prediction & Space Technology
Not only does the vapor forming the cloud originate in the Earth, but its creation is
intimately linked to the subsequent earthquake. There are two important pieces of
evidence. First, the USGS performed an experiment at the Rangely Oil Field in Western
Colorado in 1969 (18), in which water was injected into and pumped out of oil wells.
Researchers found that there was a strong positive correlation between the quantity of
water injected and seismic activity. Above a threshold fluid pore pressure, seismic
activity was observed to increase dramatically. Supporting this work is the results of
laboratory studies of yield strength of saturated rock. As the rock is heated, the yield
strength changes only gradually until a threshold temperature is reached. Past this
threshold, the rock becomes dehydrated and its yield strength drops rapidly (Fig.10, (19)).
Our earthquake model is that the vapor in an earthquake cloud is precisely what escapes
at the beginning of dehydration, i.e. when the yield strength begins to drop sharply. Once
the yield strength has dropped sufficiently, the rock yields and an earthquake occurs.
Thus, the atmospheric precursor we have discussed is directly linked to the generation of
the earthquake itself.
An earthquake cloud can be distinguished from weather clouds by the following
properties: a sudden appearance, a fixed source location (a fault), and a special shape
such as a line, a snake, a few parallel lines, a bind of parallel waves, a feather, a radiation
or a lantern pattern (2). These properties do not occur together in weather clouds (20).
Fig. 3 reveals a time series of the Bam cloud that appeared suddenly from a fixed source
(the Bam fault) at 2:00, Dec. 20, 2003. The dense cloud formed in the midst of light
clouds and expanded eastward while remaining connected to its source. An animation
will show in the OOSA web site.
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