DISCRETE SCALING IN EARTHQUAKE PRECURSORY PHENOMENA - EVIDENCE IN THEKOBE EARTHQUAKE, JAPAN

We analyze the ion concentrations of groundwater issuing from deep wel ls located near the epicenter of the recent earthquake of magnitude 6. 9 near Kobe, Japan, on January 17, 1995. These concentrations are well fitted by log-periodic modulations around a leading power law. The ex ponent (real and imaginary parts) is very close to those already found for the fits of precursory seismic activity for Loma Prieta and the A leutian Islands. This brings further support for the general hypothesi s that complex critical exponents are a general phenomenon in irrevers ible self-organizing systems and particularly in rupture and earthquak e phenomena.