APPENDIX 13

MAJOR JAPANESE EARTHQUAKES: 1890 - 2003

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Appendix for the paper 9/56 Year Cycles: Earthquakes & Volcanoes.

Table B of this appendix gives the major Japanese earthquakes since 1890 and was sourced from the National Geophysical Data Center. Of the 65 major Japanese earthquakes (mag => 7.50) since 1890, 22 took place in the 11 months ended December 15 of those years in Table A, figure that was marginally significant at p < .05. Throughout this analysis p < .01 was preferred, but the findings for Japan were still of great interest. 

Of the total 65 Japanese earthquakes listed in Table B, 13 occurred in only 6 of the 56 year sequences (Sqs 16, 25, 34, 43, 52 & 05), whereas 6.4 could have been expected by chance. Additionally, 8 occurred in the three months - January to March - compared to the 1.7 that may have been anticipated. There were four Japanese earthquakes with a record magnitude of 8.7, of which one happened in these 6 56 year sequences - (August 5, 1897). Some other lists gave the March 3, 1933 Sanriku quake as being 8.9 in magnitude, thereby being the record quake for Japan during the 20th century and also falling within the 6 56 year sequences.

The 9/56 year cycles, that were most significant for Japan, were very similar to the comparable seismic patterns noted for California/Nevada/Baja California. Curiously, of the total 27 listed since 1800, 9 major quakes in California – Nevada – Baja California happened in only four 56 year sequences (Sqs 34, 43, 52 & 05). Within these four sequences, 7 quakes took place in the three months October to December, whereas only about 0.5 could have been expected by chance. The only exceptions were the April 18, 1906 San Francisco quake and the 1932 event (Cedar Mountain, Nevada. mag 7.2.). The latter happened on December 21, 1932, a year earlier than most of the other earthquakes. Importantly, these four sequences also experienced several record events. 
*          Sq 34 - The biggest northern Californian quake (San Francisco. mag 8.25. April 18, 1906).
*          Sq 43 - Record quake for Nevada (Pleasant Valley. mag 7.7. Oct 3, 1915). 
*          Sq 43 - Record quake for Baja California (Volcano Lake. mag 7.1. Nov 21, 1915).       
*          Sq 52 - Record quake for western USA. (Great Cascadia. mag 9.0. Jan 26, 1700)
*          Sq 52 - Record historic volcanic eruption in the western states (Mt St Helens, May 18, 1980).

Earthquakes falling preferentially in 9/56 year patterns will always correlate perfectly with the ecliptical position of the lunar north (ascending) node. This implies that 9/56 year seismic events arise due to Moon - Sun tidal effects.