On the proper time of the earthquake source

Abstract

The concept of proper time, which is different from universal time, has been introduced into the physics of earthquakes. The global activity of strong earthquakes was chosen as the object of study. We consider the sequence of earthquakes as a random process of the Poisson type. Comparatively weak earthquakes are used as the underground clock, the ticking of which marks the course of proper time. The Poisson distribution is compared with the distributions for two sequences of strong earthquakes. One of the sequences is ordered by calendar time, and the second by proper time. The result of the test showed that the distribution of events ordered by proper time is closer to the Poisson distribution than the distribution of events ordered by calendar time. We explain this by non-stationarity, which is an immanent property of the Earth's lithosphere.