Abstract
THE attraction of the moon has always been felt by earthquake workers, whatever may be its effect on earthquakes themselves. The latest contributions to this aspect of seismology are two papers in No. 18 of the Publications of the Earthquake Investigation Committee in Japan. Prof. Omori deals with the lunar daily distribution, finding maxima of frequency between oh. and 5h., and again between 12h. and 13h., reckoning from the upper culmination. Dr. Imamura, dealing with the synodic monthly variation in frequency, finds that this shows an increase at the syzygies and quadratures; the former is attributed to the combined effects of the attraction of the sun and the moon, while the latter is explained by the fact that the time of high water at Tokio then coincides with that of the diurnal maximum of barometric pressure. In spite of the ingenuity of this explanation, its validity seems doubtful, for the stresses involved can at most be only a subsidiary cause of earthquakes, and consequently any effect due to them would naturally be looked for at the time when they vary most rapidly in amount rather than at that of their maximum.
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Seismological Notes . Nature 71, 620–621 (1905). https://doi.org/10.1038/071620a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/071620a0