Abstract:

 Under different active temperature, the thermovoltage of four kinds of typical minerals, such as magnetite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite, were tested by thermoelectricity equipment BHTE06. All the minerals showed that the absolute value of the thermovoltage rose with active temperature increasing. Based on the theory of thermoelectricity and the analysis of genetic environment of natural minerals, we assume that the semiconductor minerals widely exist in crust and most of them have the thermoelectric property. Because the isogenetic electronmagnetic field and thermal field can interact with each other while the earthquake is generated and occurred, we propose that the thermal field can excite the semiconductor minerals to produce thermoelectric effects and a new additional thermoelectric field. The additional thermoelectric field may provide precursory information for earthquake prediction. The thermoelectricity produced by widely existing natural semiconductor minerals in crust may play an important role in the abnormal change of geoelectric field during the gestation and occurrence of an earthquake. Therefore, the indepth study of thermoelectric effects of natural semiconductor minerals is of revelatory significance for understanding the general mechanism of abnormal change of geoelectric field before an earthquake.

Key words:

Key words: natural semiconductor minerals; thermoelectricity; earthquake; abnormal electric field