Crustal Deformation on the Northeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau from Continuous GPS Observations

Xiaoning Su; Lianbi Yao; Weiwei Wu; Guojie Meng; Lina Su; Renwei Xiong; Shunying Hong

doi:10.3390/rs11010034

Remote Sensing (Dec 2018)

Crustal Deformation on the Northeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau from Continuous GPS Observations

Xiaoning Su,
Lianbi Yao,
Weiwei Wu,
Guojie Meng,
Lina Su,
Renwei Xiong,
Shunying Hong

Affiliations

Xiaoning Su: College of Surveying and Geo-informatics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Lianbi Yao: College of Surveying and Geo-informatics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Weiwei Wu: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China
Guojie Meng: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China
Lina Su: Shaanxi Earthquake Agency, Xi’an 710068, China
Renwei Xiong: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China
Shunying Hong: Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11010034
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 11, no. 1
p. 34

Abstract

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We installed 10 continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) stations on the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau at the end of 2012, in order to qualitatively investigate strain accumulation across the Liupanshan Fault (LPSF). We integrated our newly built stations with 48 other existing GPS stations to provide new insights into three-dimensional tectonic deformation. We employed white plus flicker noise model as a statistical model to obtain realistic velocities and corresponding uncertainties in the ITRF2014 and Ordos-fixed reference frame. The total velocity decrease from northwest to southeast in the Longxi Block (LXB) was 5.3 mm/yr within the range of 200 km west of the LPSF on the horizontal component. The first-order characteristic of the vertical crustal deformation was uplift for the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The uplift rates in the LXB and the Ordos Block (ORB) were 1.0 and 2.0 mm/yr, respectively. We adopted an improved spherical wavelet algorithm to invert for multiscale strain rates and rotation rates. Multiscale strain rates showed a complex crustal deformation pattern. A significant clockwise rotation of about 30 nradians/yr (10−9 radians/year) was identified around the Dingxi. Localized strain accumulation was determined around the intersectional region between the Haiyuan Fault (HYF) and the LPSF. The deformation pattern across the LFPS was similar to that of the Longmengshan Fault (LMSF) before the 2008 Wenchuan MS 8.0 earthquake. Furthermore, according to the distributed second invariant of strain rates at different spatial scale, strain partitioning has already spatially localized along the Xiaokou–Liupanshan–Longxian–Baoji fault belt (XLLBF). The tectonic deformation and localized strain buildup together with seismicity imply a high probability for a potential earthquake in this zone.

Published in Remote Sensing

ISSN: 2072-4292 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/

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