Earthquakes, Earthworms and Earth Changes
Before Its News
By Zen Gardner
March 16th, 2011
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Is The Big One About To Hit California?
The tsunami that struck Japan was the third in a series of events that now put California at risk.
There were reports via a radio interview at rense.com that a lot of earthworms have been seen recently coming out of the soil in the Washington State area. Coincidentally, colleague writer/researcher/activist Alex Thomas from theIntelHub.com reported to me the same phenomenon. I called my son who lives not far from Alex and sure enough similar activity was spotted there. Mind you, rain levels have been high, but still we should keep our eyes open.
I’ve been following the earthquake and tsunami story from California closely for days. I believe nature will warn us of such impending disasters but that we have to be in a place to listen.
Besides the strange sea life die-offs preceding recent quakes, other such natural phenomena have fascinated me. This article I found was very compelling, by a Japanese scientist, coincidentally:
Interview with Dr. Motojo Ikeya (Emphasis mine)
At Osaka University Dr. Ikeya was chair of the Quantum Geophysics Laboratory, and is the author of more than three hundred scientific papers. He was Professor of Graduate School of Science at Osaka University’s Department of of Physics since 1987, and of Earth Space Science since its foundation in 1991. Dr. Ikeya retired from Osaka University in 2004, and is now helping young people in ESR on a part-time basis.
Ikeya’s laboratory experiments were conducted to see if exposure to an electrical field or electromagnetic pulses could elicit animal behavior similar to what has been reported prior to earthquakes. Ikeya’s experiments produced very interesting results. For example, fish showed panic reactions, and earthworms moved out of the soil and swarmed when current was applied. These are very similar to the behaviors that are reported before earthquakes. Dr. Ikeya’s work also sheds light on other mysterious pre-earthquake phenomena–which he was able to recreate in the laboratory–such as strange plant growth, earth-lights, fogs, atmospheric distortions, and unusual phenomena with electric appliances, such as televisions and cell phones.
David: What motivated you to start studying the relationship between unusual animal behavior and earthquakes?
Dr. Ikeya: The Kobe earthquake in 1995. I live 30 km from the epicenter and thought it strange that many earthworms dug themselves up in my small garden. At the time, I did not know the legend that a number of emerging earthworms is a sign of a large earthquake. Many people noticed this, including my neighbors.David: How have your laboratory experiments with electric fields and electromagnetic pulses helped to shed some light on what may cause unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes?
Dr. Ikeya: First, theoretical calculation of EQ light, which was seen by my graduate students and associate professor. EQ clouds and fogs in legends may naturally be produced in super-cooled atmosphere. Then, it dawned on me that animals might be sensing such atmospheric discharge and electric field as electric field effects.
David: How do you think animals detect electromagnetic waves, and why do you think this cause them to behave in peculiar ways?
Dr. Ikeya: Electric fields may be sensed by the force on the animal’s hair. Induced current in the body may cause changes with some neurotransmitters.
David: Your research provides strong evidence for the theory that electromagnetic changes are causing the unusual animal behavior and other unexplained phenomena that are sometimes reported to occur prior to earthquakes. Do you think that this is just one possible explanation or the only one?
Dr. Ikeya: Probably most of the unexplained phenomena (80 – 90%) reported by lay citizens would have electromagnetic causes. Old legends of bent flames, and rice cooking anomaly, as well as animal and plant anomalies, are definitely electromagnetic in origin. However, the Moses’ phenomenon [reports that great bodies of water will suddenly and temporarily split apart, creating a valley to the ocean floor, and two massive walls of water] is due to natural hydrodynamic causes. (Source)
Here’s another apt research study:
We’ve all heard them: the tales of dogs barking before the big earthquake hit; wildlife behaving strangely before the big hurricane; earthworms pouring out of the ground just before the big flood strikes.
Tall tales … or true?
Geologist Jim Berkland claims to have a formula that uses animal behavior to accurately forecast earthquakes.
Researchers say it’s probably a little bit of both. Plenty of studies have shown that some animals can sense major changes in the weather. Worms, for instance, are known to flee rising groundwater. Birds are known to be sensitive to air pressure changes, and often hunker down before a big storm. And in Florida, researchers studying tagged sharks say they flee to deeper water just before a big hurricane arrives. They also may be sensing the air and water pressure changes caused by the big storm.
“I think these animals are more attuned to their environment than we give them credit for,” Michelle Heupel, a scientist at the Mote Marine Laboratory who worked on the shark study, has told reporters. “When things change, they may not understand why it’s happening, but the change itself may trigger some instinct to move to an area that is safer for them.”
But can your kitty or puppy give you a cue that a big quake is coming? Researchers are skeptical. After years of study, the U.S. Geological Survey has this to say: “Changes in animal behavior cannot be used to predict earthquakes. Even though there have been documented cases of unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes, a reproducible connection between a specific behavior and the occurrence of an earthquake has not been made. Animals change their behavior for many reasons and given that an earthquake can shake millions of people, it is likely that a few of their pets will, by chance, be acting strangely before an earthquake.”
What about other animal trends? In NATURE’s Can Animals Predict Disaster?, for instance, one geologist says he sees an increasing number of missing pets documented in the local classified ads just before an earthquake strikes in California. He, in fact, predicted the famous San Francisco earthquake of 1989. The theory is that the animals are fleeing the impending quake.
Again, other scientists doubt this. USGS scientists, for instance, say even simple science fair projects will show little statistical association. (See Do Lost Pet Ads Predict Earthquakes?)
Similarly, scientists are skeptical that any special “sixth sense” helped animals survive the great tsunami that swept the Indian Ocean in 2004. After the wave, people reported seeing animals fleeing to forests on high ground and finding few bodies of dead animals. But scientists note that little hard data exists, and that many animals may have survived simply because they are strong swimmers or able to scamper up trees.
Still, researchers like Liz Von Muggenthaler — who appears in NATURE’s Can Animals Predict Disaster? — believe animals can pick up the “infrasonic” sound pulses created by storms and earthquakes, and get a head start on fleeing to safety. It would make sense, she says, that the animals learn to associate such signals with danger.
Conclusion
Pretty cool how creation will give us indicators. Let’s hope we learn to read them. - Zen
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I hate to get anyone frightened in Northern California just yet, but last night, 03/18/2011, overnight was a big rainstorm came through. I have a wide full view of the sky from my condo perched on a hilltop and throughout this storm there were huge lightening arcs across the entire sky, so bright they looked like a strobe light, turning night into day – and strangely, so high up that the sound of thunder was very soft and only heard on some of them, some so large or high up that no sound was heard at all. Sounds ominous to me.