Could the Sun entering it's solar minimum be the reason for the massive drop in major quake and volcano activity this year?

If we count the number of strong earthquakes within a year, i.e. in our case >6.5R, we have to count the number of those strong earthquakes every year and plot them. Since 1947, i.e. we went back 70 years, and counted. The result is the plot shown above. We see that on average, there are 42 per year, for the period 1947-2017. This is shown by the red horizontal line. Within the chart we can see periods of 14 years. Other periods are perhaps possible to derive as well. Another interesting feature is that 2017 has until now, end of August only 22 earthquakes of >6.5R in 2017. Unless this changes by year end, this would be a 70 year low count!
It is also known, we are approaching a solar minimum,. The sun is heading into a period known as solar minimum, during which activity at the surface will ‘change form.’ In this time, certain types of activity, such as sunspots and solar flares will drop – but, it’s also expected to bring the development of long-lived phenomena including coronal holes. According to NASA, solar minimum could also enhance the effects of space weather, potentially disrupting communications and navigation systems.

The sun follows roughly an 11-year cycle.
While sunspots were relatively high back in 2014, they’re now heading toward a low point expected in 2019-2020, according to NASA.
Does space weather effect quakes and volcano activity on Earth, of course it does and it's clear to see on the graph above major quakes of decreased since 2014-15 but is this the result in the drop off of sunspots, I can't say, time will tell what is happening and lets hope it's not the calm before the storm.

See also https://arxiv.org/pdf/1203.4143.pdf and
http://www.thebigwobble.org/2017/08/could-sun-entering-its-solar-minimum-be.html