Astronomic background of global huge earthquakes at beginning of 21st century

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21^st century, major earthquakes have frequently occurred worldwide. To explore the impact of astronomical factors on earthquakes, in this study, the statistical analysis method of correlation is used to systematically analyze the effects of astronomical factors, such as solar activity, Earth’s rotation, lunar declination angle, celestial tidal force, and other phenomena on M ≥ 8 global earthquakes at the beginning of the 21st century. With regard to solar activity, this study focuses on the analysis of the 11-year and century cycles of solar activity. The causal relationship of the Earth’s rotation is not obvious in this work and previous works; in contrast, the valley period of the solar activity century cycle may be an important astronomical factor leading to the frequent occurrence of global earthquakes at the beginning of the 21^st century. This topic warrants further study.