The magnitude 6.9 earthquake that shook Mexico early this Thursday brought thousands of frightened people to the streets of the capital, who were also able to see strange lights in the sky.
Stunned for the moment, many townspeople thought they were electrical faults, shooting flashes of light in all directions.
However, it is a phenomenon known by experts as
triboluminescence, or earthquake lights,
which had already been sighted on two other occasions in Mexico City.
The first time took place on the night of September 7, 2017, when an earthquake of magnitude 8.2 with an epicenter in Puebla shook the Mexican capital.
[“The plates do not know about calendars”: seismologist explains what is behind the earthquakes of September 19 in Mexico]
The second occurred on September 8, 2021, during the earthquake registered in Guerrero of magnitude 7.1.
"This happens when a seismic wave hits the ground. The friction generated with some rocks, such as basalt, can cause electric currents that are expelled to the surface," meteorologist Carlos Robles explained to Noticias Telemundo.
The seismologist of the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Víctor Manuel Cruz, told the newspaper El País that "the interaction of the movement of the ground with the atmosphere is real. There are records that show that with an earthquake produce dynamic disturbances and electromagnetic signals".
[Using the phrase “damn 19” many Mexicans describe the day in September in which three earthquakes have occurred]
The lights that are projected in the sky have a varied range of colors: from whites and blues, to greens and purples.
This phenomenon, which in itself is harmless, has become a major topic of study among experts.
Biomedical engineer Troy Shinbrot, from Rutgers University, recreated a model in his laboratory that mimics the operation of earthquakes and discovered a great electrical activity as a result of the displacement of granular material used to imitate the earth, according to The Washington newspaper. Post.
To do this, he filled containers with different types of material, such as cooking flour or glass pearls.
Moving them in a quick snap motion to reproduce a crack, she perceived spikes of positive and negative energy that would explain the lights seen in the sky over Mexico City.
