ROTTEN EGG SMELL RIGHT BEFORE AN EARTHQUAKE

This is interesting.  Reports of hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg) smell right before imminent earthquake:

Norcia and Aquila (Italy), 14 January and 2 February 1703

"In Aquila and Norcia, and in other places . . . the earth was here and there observed to split in cracks, from which streamed the evil odors of sulfur and bitumen; and men in Aquila most worthy of trust write that in many places after the earthquake sulfur and fire issued from the opened earth." (Quoted by Galli, 1911)

Komarom (Hungary), 28 June 1763

"Ruptures in the soil originated in thousands of places. From almost all of them water and quicksand were emitted together with flames and stinking smoke. . . . The river Danube began to rise . . . and the water appeared to be steaming as though boiling. It had a sulphurous smell. The majority of the ruptures occurred near the river bank and from some of them flames emerged alternately with the sand and smoke. Fertö Lake, 100 km west of Komarom, began to rumble and foam very intensely. . . . Flames as big as a barrel were seen over the river itself. Many horned cattle perished in the terrible stinking vapour that came from the earth. . . . At the bank of another smaller river, the Vag, red-colored flames rushed up from the ruptures, followed by sulphurous waters. . . . At some places the waters that came from the earth were distinctly black. The water of the river Bag appeared to be boiling." (Quoted by Rethly, 1952)

The following are from among the many eyewitness accounts quoted by Schmidt and Mack (1913):

"We saw a sea of flames, gas-like and not electrical in nature, shoot up out of the paved market street. The height of the flames I can estimate at 8 to 12 cm; it was like when you pour petroleum or alcohol on the ground and light it."

"I observed very precisely how a bright fire, which had a bluish color, came out of the ground in the meadow. Its height was about 80 cm. . . . The first was present not only in the meadow but also in the whole surroundings of our house."

"Some people in the streets . . . noticed that for a while before the quake and particularly after it an evil stuffy air made breathing almost impossible."
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The following are phrases used in eyewitness accounts collected by Demetrescu and Petrescu (1941):

". . . a thick layer like a translucid gas above the surface of the soil . . . irregular gas fires . . . flames in rhythm with the movements of the soil . . . flashes like lightning from the floor to the summit of Mt Tampa . . . flames issuing from rocks, which crumbled, with flashes also issuing from non-wooded mountainsides."

Sungpan-Pingwu (China), 16, 22, and 23 August 1976

"From March of 1976, various large anomalies were observed over a broad region. . . . At the Wanchia commune of Chungching County, outbursts of natural gas from rock fissures ignited and were difficult to extinguish even by dumping dirt over the fissures. . . . Chu Chieh Cho, of the Provincial Seismological Bureau, related personally seeing a fireball 75 km from the epicenter on the night of 21 July while in the company of three professional seismologists.


The San Francisco Earthquake

The earthquake that destroyed parts of San Francisco and virtually all of Santa Rosa occurred at 5:12 a.m. on 18 April 1906. It was most intense perhaps a hundred kilometers north of San Francisco. We will here list some excerpts from the numerous reports, all indicating violent gas emission from the ground, gases that contained the poisonous hydrogen sulphide and gases that were frequently flammable. It is the earthquake for with the most detailed reports exist, and which shows every type of phenomenon that we have noted in other cases.

(a) Effects in Air

An extensive list of noises heard at the time of the shock, compiled from witnesses by Lawson and others (1908), includes the following: From Santa Rosa, "Heard noises in SW; then felt breeze; then felt shock". From Cotati, "Sound as of a strong wind before the shock". From Point Reyes Station, "Heard roar, then felt wind on my face". From Calistoga, "A rushing noise before the shock came". From Pescadero, "Noise as of wind preceded the shock". And from Mount Hamilton, "Sound as of flight of birds simultaneously with shock".

Other clear evidence for gas is given by a report published on 23 April in the Santa Rosa Democrat-Republican (the first newspaper to appear after the devastation). It said:

J.B. Doda, who came over from Fort Ross on Monday, reports that the earthquake caused immense cracks in the earth there, from which strong gases are emitted which make men and cattle sick.

Also, according to Edgar Larkin (1906), who collected a great many accounts, the odour of hydrogen sulphide was noted in the area of Sausalito. He also reported that sulfurous odors were pungent in Napa County during the night of the 17th and 18th before the upheaval, and lasted all day. . . . From many of the letters it is clear that the entire region north and east of San Francisco is saturated with gases of sulfur origin. . . .

In Santa Rosa, according to Lawson and others (1908), a strong smell of sulphur had been noticed two days before the earthquake by one Charles Kobes. Since during an earthquake eight years previously, "sulfur fumes came up from under his house which almost drove his family from home", the recurrence of this phenomenon on 16 April 1906 caused Kobes to tell his family that there would be another earthquake.

(b) Effects in Water

Numerous indications of hydrogen sulphide in bodies of water were reported. According to Larkin (1906), "creeks became milky in several places as if gas escaped from the water". Hydrogen sulfide bubbling through water is known to give it a milky appearance. Another report in the San Jose Herald of 2 May 1906 states that in Monterey Bay, on the day of the quake, there were thousands of strange fish floating on the water a few miles offshore, none of which were known to old fishermen on the boat. Similar reports of massive fish kills at times of earthquakes, especially of bottom-dwelling fish, are known from Japan, in some cases also associated with the description of milkiness of the water. Again, hydrogen sulphide, which is highly toxic to fish, seems a likely explanation, and in each case it is bottom dwelling fish which are not normally caught that are the chief victims.