Electromagnetic Studies of Present Geodynamic Processes in the Lithospheres of the Regions of Intracontinental Orogeny: the Tien Shan Example

Abstract—Electromagnetic investigation of stress-strain state dynamics in the geological medium is based on the analysis of two groups of physical phenomena. The first group includes phenomena associated with the dynamics of electrical properties of rocks caused by a change in their fracturing, porosity, fluid content, structure and texture, temperature and pressure, etc. The second group covers the effects of generation of endogenous (geodynamic) sources of electromagnetic field under irreversible deformations of the geological medium. In this paper, we present the practical results of the studies of the Earth’s natural electromagnetic field that have been carried out at the Research Station of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Bishkek over 40 years of operation of the Bishkek Geodynamical Test Site of the Research Station and aimed at gaining new insights into the present-day geodynamics of the Tien Shan lithosphere. The results of the experimental study of the first group of phenomena are based on the analysis of temporal changes in the magnetotelluric transfer functions. In this analysis it is assumed that the present-day geodynamic processes including catastrophic ones, e.g., earthquakes, trigger the crack formation processes which, in turn, changes the pore-fracture space of the rocks and causes fluid redistribution in them, thus resulting in the changes in the electrical conductivity of the geological medium. The practical results of the studies of the second group of phenomena are based on the notion that the geodynamic processes induced in the Tien Shan crust by irreversible deformations of rocks create sources of electromagnetic radiation leading to the variations in the endogenous electromagnetic field which can be observed on the ground.