SENSITIVE ZONES OF THE EARTH'S CRUST AS A MANIFESTATION OF DYNAMICS OF THE INTERACTION OF BLOCKS

Abstract

“Sensitive zones” of the Earth’s crust, where high-amplitude distant earthquake forerunners and postseismic effects are observed in different geophysical (geochemical and hydrogeodynamic) fields, were distinguished for the first time two decades ago. Voluminous data gathered by the present time confirm and provide new insights into our understanding of “sensitive zones” as specific structures confined to the most mobile contacts between major blocks of the Earth’s crust. Responses of these structures to weak perturbations are manifested as very intense, high-gradient variations in parameters of different geophysical fields.