The Effect of Strong Magnetic Storms on the Occurrence of Large Earthquakes

Abstract—The times of occurrence of the earthquakes with magnitudes M ≥ 6.5 all over the world are compared with the commencement times of the strongest magnetic storms with the planetary Kp-indices above 7. In the interval from 1994 to 2017, 17 earthquakes occurred within two days after 50 storms which corresponds to their non-random occurrence with a probability above 95%. These earthquakes took place in the eastern hemisphere and were absent in the western hemisphere. The strongest storm was accompanied by the emergence of non-tidal movements of the Earth’s surface established from the recorded by broadband seismic stations.