Real-time Release of Electromagnetic Energy from the Benioff Region before Earthquakes in Different Locations of the Peruvian Coast

The present work is a follow-up description of the research being conducted at PUCP in the continuous quest to understand the Earth’s crust, its tectonic plate conformation and its behavior from a physical point of view. Mechanical energy released from tectonic plate pressure, in this case under a subduction mechanism, is prone to release electrons, leaving positive holes, which despite their different mobility, produce displacement currents at terminal velocities and accelerations generating electromagnetic radiation. Certain ULF components tend to propagate optimally in the dry and wet lithosphere and in sea water, giving rise to detectable electromagnetic unipolar pulses. The present paper covers the observations of ULF pulses obtained in our sites, with particular emphasis to their electromagnetic energy content. The sites chosen are three in central Peru, three in the mid-south and four in southern Peru. The signals have been especially validated by triangulation in two stations situated within a radius of about 40-50 km and all come from de subduction zone. Besides, most of the pulses in some areas are directly related to rather small earthquakes, in the 3.0 to 6.5 ML range with the big majority in the 3.0 to 4.5 ML span. The discussion is centered in the generality of the method, on the fact that the signals originate in the Benioff zone and in the correlation between the EM energies shown and the coincidence with the occurrence of the small earthquakes registered.