L.M. Jones’s scientific contributions

We have examined the spatial and temporal distributions of some 570 reports of changes in ground water and 670 reports of anomalous animal behavior in the three months before the Haicheng earthquake (4 February 1975, M=7.3). These changes and anomalies were reported from a very large area, extending more than 150 kilometers in nearly all directions from the epicenter with no concentration near it. There are suggestions 1) of correlations in time and space of the two types of anomalies with the ground water changes preceding the aberrant animal behavior by a day or two, 2) of a greater concentration of reports near major active faults than far away from them, and 3) of migrations in time of the area in which there were frequent observations. The number of reported changes in ground water increased abruptly on 1 February 1975, the day of the first recorded foreshock. The number of reported observations of anomalous animal behavior increased dramatically on 3 February, the day on which the first foreshock that was large enough to be felt occurred. These data suggest that some animals may have responded to a shaking of the ground due to foreshocks and others may have sensed changes in the ground water (level, composition, or other properties). -Authors