@article{OuDaoutWeissetal.2022, author = {Ou, Qi and Daout, Simon and Weiss, Jonathan R. and Shen, Lin and Lazecky, Milan and Wright, Tim J. and Parsons, Barry E.}, title = {Large-Scale interseismic strain mapping of the NE Tibetan Plateau from Sentinel-1 Interferometry}, series = {Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth}, volume = {127}, journal = {Journal of geophysical research : Solid earth}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2169-9313}, doi = {10.1029/2022JB024176}, pages = {29}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The launches of the Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar satellites in 2014 and 2016 started a new era of high-resolution velocity and strain rate mapping for the continents. However, multiple challenges exist in tying independently processed velocity data sets to a common reference frame and producing high-resolution strain rate fields. We analyze Sentinel-1 data acquired between 2014 and 2019 over the northeast Tibetan Plateau, and develop new methods to derive east and vertical velocities with similar to 100 m resolution and similar to 1 mm/yr accuracy across an area of 440,000 km(2). By implementing a new method of combining horizontal gradients of filtered east and interpolated north velocities, we derive the first similar to 1 km resolution strain rate field for this tectonically active region. The strain rate fields show concentrated shear strain along the Haiyuan and East Kunlun Faults, and local contractional strain on fault junctions, within the Qilianshan thrusts, and around the Longyangxia Reservoir. The Laohushan-Jingtai creeping section of the Haiyuan Fault is highlighted in our data set by extremely rapid strain rates. Strain across unknown portions of the Haiyuan Fault system, including shear on the eastern extension of the Dabanshan Fault and contraction at the western flank of the Quwushan, highlight unmapped tectonic structures. In addition to the uplift across most of the lowlands, the vertical velocities also contain climatic, hydrological or anthropogenic-related deformation signals. We demonstrate the enhanced view of large-scale active tectonic processes provided by high-resolution velocities and strain rates derived from Sentinel-1 data and highlight associated wide-ranging research applications.}, language = {en} } @article{BarbotWeiss2021, author = {Barbot, Sylvain and Weiss, Jonathan R.}, title = {Connecting subduction, extension and shear localization across the Aegean Sea and Anatolia}, series = {Geophysical journal international}, volume = {226}, journal = {Geophysical journal international}, number = {1}, publisher = {Blackwell}, address = {Oxford [u.a.]}, issn = {0956-540X}, doi = {10.1093/gji/ggab078}, pages = {422 -- 445}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The Eastern Mediterranean is the most seismically active region in Europe due to the complex interactions of the Arabian, African, and Eurasian tectonic plates. Deformation is achieved by faulting in the brittle crust, distributed flow in the viscoelastic lower-crust and mantle, and Hellenic subduction, but the long-term partitioning of these mechanisms is still unknown. We exploit an extensive suite of geodetic observations to build a kinematic model connecting strike-slip deformation, extension, subduction, and shear localization across Anatolia and the Aegean Sea by mapping the distribution of slip and strain accumulation on major active geological structures. We find that tectonic escape is facilitated by a plate-boundary-like, translithospheric shear zone extending from the Gulf of Evia to the Turkish-Iranian Plateau that underlies the surface trace of the North Anatolian Fault. Additional deformation in Anatolia is taken up by a series of smaller-scale conjugate shear zones that reach the upper mantle, the largest of which is located beneath the East Anatolian Fault. Rapid north-south extension in the western part of the system, driven primarily by Hellenic Trench retreat, is accommodated by rotation and broadening of the North Anatolian mantle shear zone from the Sea of Marmara across the north Aegean Sea, and by a system of distributed transform faults and rifts including the rapidly extending Gulf of Corinth in central Greece and the active grabens of western Turkey. Africa-Eurasia convergence along the Hellenic Arc occurs at a median rate of 49.8mm yr(-1) in a largely trench-normal direction except near eastern Crete where variably oriented slip on the megathrust coincides with mixed-mode and strike-slip deformation in the overlying accretionary wedge near the Ptolemy-Pliny-Strabo trenches. Our kinematic model illustrates the competing roles the North Anatolian mantle shear zone, Hellenic Trench, overlying mantle wedge, and active crustal faults play in accommodating tectonic indentation, slab rollback and associated Aegean extension. Viscoelastic flow in the lower crust and upper mantle dominate the surface velocity field across much of Anatolia and a clear transition to megathrust-related slab pull occurs in western Turkey, the Aegean Sea and Greece. Crustal scale faults and the Hellenic wedge contribute only a minor amount to the large-scale, regional pattern of Eastern Mediterranean interseismic surface deformation.}, language = {en} } @article{FigueroaVillegasWeissHongnetal.2020, author = {Figueroa Villegas, Sara and Weiss, Jonathan R. and Hongn, Fernando D. and Pingel, Heiko and Escalante, Leonardo and El{\´i}as, Leonardo and Aranda-Viana, R. Germ{\´a}n and Strecker, Manfred}, title = {Late pleistocene to recent deformation in the thick-skinned fold-and-thrust belt of Northwestern Argentina (Central Calchaqui Valley, 26 degrees S)}, series = {Tectonics / American Geophysical Union, AGU ; European Geophysical Society, EGS}, volume = {40}, journal = {Tectonics / American Geophysical Union, AGU ; European Geophysical Society, EGS}, number = {1}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington, DC}, issn = {0278-7407}, doi = {10.1029/2020TC006394}, pages = {20}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The thick-skinned fold-and-thrust belt on the eastern flank of the Andean Plateau in northwestern Argentina (NWA) is a zone of active contractional deformation characterized by fault-bounded mountain ranges with no systematic spatiotemporal pattern of tectonic activity. In contrast, the thin-skinned Subandean fold-and-thrust belt of northern Argentina and southern Bolivia is characterized primarily by in-sequence (i.e., west to east) fault progression, with a narrow zone of Quaternary deformation focused at the front of the orogenic wedge. To better understand how recent deformation is accommodated across these mountain ranges and the Argentinian portion of the orogen in particular, estimating and comparing deformation rates and patterns across different timescales is essential. We present Late Pleistocene shortening rates for the central Calchaqui intermontane valley in NWA associated with at least three episodes of deformation. Global Positioning System data for the same region reveal a gradual decrease in horizontal surface velocities from the Eastern Cordillera toward the foreland, which contrasts with the rapid velocity gradient associated with a locked decollement in the Subandean Ranges of southern Bolivia. Our new results represent a small view of regional deformation that, when considered in combination with the shallow crustal seismicity and decadal-scale surface velocities, support the notion that strain release in NWA is associated with numerous slowly deforming structures that are distributed throughout the orogen.}, language = {en} } @article{MorishitaLazeckyWrightetal.2020, author = {Morishita, Yu and Lazecky, Milan and Wright, Tim J. and Weiss, Jonathan R. and Elliott, John R. and Hooper, Andy}, title = {LiCSBAS}, series = {Remote sensing}, volume = {12}, journal = {Remote sensing}, number = {3}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2072-4292}, doi = {10.3390/rs12030424}, pages = {29}, year = {2020}, abstract = {For the past five years, the 2-satellite Sentinel-1 constellation has provided abundant and useful Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, which have the potential to reveal global ground surface deformation at high spatial and temporal resolutions. However, for most users, fully exploiting the large amount of associated data is challenging, especially over wide areas. To help address this challenge, we have developed LiCSBAS, an open-source SAR interferometry (InSAR) time series analysis package that integrates with the automated Sentinel-1 InSAR processor (LiCSAR). LiCSBAS utilizes freely available LiCSAR products, and users can save processing time and disk space while obtaining the results of InSAR time series analysis. In the LiCSBAS processing scheme, interferograms with many unwrapping errors are automatically identified by loop closure and removed. Reliable time series and velocities are derived with the aid of masking using several noise indices. The easy implementation of atmospheric corrections to reduce noise is achieved with the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS). Using case studies in southern Tohoku and the Echigo Plain, Japan, we demonstrate that LiCSBAS applied to LiCSAR products can detect both large-scale (>100 km) and localized (similar to km) relative displacements with an accuracy of <1 cm/epoch and similar to 2 mm/yr. We detect displacements with different temporal characteristics, including linear, periodic, and episodic, in Niigata, Ojiya, and Sanjo City, respectively. LiCSBAS and LiCSAR products facilitate greater exploitation of globally available and abundant SAR datasets and enhance their applications for scientific research and societal benefit.}, language = {en} } @article{WeissWaltersMorishitaetal.2020, author = {Weiss, Jonathan R. and Walters, Richard J. and Morishita, Yu and Wright, Tim J. and Lazecky, Milan and Wang, Hua and Hussain, Ekbal and Hooper, Andrew J. and Elliott, John R. and Rollins, Chris and Yu, Chen and Gonzalez, Pablo J. and Spaans, Karsten and Li, Zhenhong and Parsons, Barry}, title = {High-resolution surface velocities and strain for Anatolia from Sentinel-1 InSAR and GNSS data}, series = {Geophysical research letters}, volume = {47}, journal = {Geophysical research letters}, number = {17}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1029/2020GL087376}, pages = {12}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Measurements of present-day surface deformation are essential for the assessment of long-term seismic hazard. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellites enable global, high-resolution observation of crustal motion from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). We have developed automated InSAR processing systems that exploit the first similar to 5 years of Sentinel-1 data to measure surface motions for the similar to 800,000-km(2) Anatolian region. Our new 3-D velocity and strain rate fields illuminate deformation patterns dominated by westward motion of Anatolia relative to Eurasia, localized strain accumulation along the North and East Anatolian Faults, and rapid vertical signals associated with anthropogenic activities and to a lesser extent extension across the grabens of western Anatolia. We show that automatically processed Sentinel-1 InSAR data can characterize details of the velocity and strain rate fields with high resolution and accuracy over large regions. These results are important for assessing the relationship between strain accumulation and release in earthquakes.
Plain Language Summary Satellite-based measurements of small rates of motion of the Earth's surface made at high spatial resolutions and over large areas are important for many geophysical applications including improving earthquake hazard models. We take advantage of recent advances in geodetic techniques in order to measure surface velocities and tectonic strain accumulation across the Anatolia region, including the highly seismogenic and often deadly North Anatolian Fault. We show that by combining Sentinel-1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements we can enhance our view of surface deformation associated with active tectonics, the earthquake cycle, and anthropogenic processes.}, language = {en} } @misc{MorishitaLazeckyWrightetal.2020, author = {Morishita, Yu and Lazecky, Milan and Wright, Tim J. and Weiss, Jonathan R. and Elliott, John R. and Hooper, Andy}, title = {LiCSBAS}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {1078}, issn = {1866-8372}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-47243}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-472431}, pages = {31}, year = {2020}, abstract = {For the past five years, the 2-satellite Sentinel-1 constellation has provided abundant and useful Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, which have the potential to reveal global ground surface deformation at high spatial and temporal resolutions. However, for most users, fully exploiting the large amount of associated data is challenging, especially over wide areas. To help address this challenge, we have developed LiCSBAS, an open-source SAR interferometry (InSAR) time series analysis package that integrates with the automated Sentinel-1 InSAR processor (LiCSAR). LiCSBAS utilizes freely available LiCSAR products, and users can save processing time and disk space while obtaining the results of InSAR time series analysis. In the LiCSBAS processing scheme, interferograms with many unwrapping errors are automatically identified by loop closure and removed. Reliable time series and velocities are derived with the aid of masking using several noise indices. The easy implementation of atmospheric corrections to reduce noise is achieved with the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS). Using case studies in southern Tohoku and the Echigo Plain, Japan, we demonstrate that LiCSBAS applied to LiCSAR products can detect both large-scale (>100 km) and localized (~km) relative displacements with an accuracy of <1 cm/epoch and ~2 mm/yr. We detect displacements with different temporal characteristics, including linear, periodic, and episodic, in Niigata, Ojiya, and Sanjo City, respectively. LiCSBAS and LiCSAR products facilitate greater exploitation of globally available and abundant SAR datasets and enhance their applications for scientific research and societal benefit.}, language = {en} } @article{WeissQiuBarbotetal.2019, author = {Weiss, Jonathan R. and Qiu, Qiang and Barbot, Sylvain and Wright, Tim J. and Foster, James H. and Saunders, Alexander and Brooks, Benjamin A. and Bevis, Michael and Kendrick, Eric and Ericksen, Todd L. and Avery, Jonathan and Smalley, Robert and Cimbaro, Sergio R. and Lenzano, Luis Eduardo and Baron, Jorge and Carlos Baez, Juan and Echalar, Arturo}, title = {Illuminating subduction zone rheological properties in the wake of a giant earthquake}, series = {Science Advances}, volume = {5}, journal = {Science Advances}, number = {12}, publisher = {American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science}, address = {Washington}, issn = {2375-2548}, doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aax6720}, pages = {11}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Deformation associated with plate convergence at subduction zones is accommodated by a complex system involving fault slip and viscoelastic flow. These processes have proven difficult to disentangle. The 2010 M-w 8.8 Maule earthquake occurred close to the Chilean coast within a dense network of continuously recording Global Positioning System stations, which provide a comprehensive history of surface strain. We use these data to assemble a detailed picture of a structurally controlled megathrust fault frictional patchwork and the three-dimensional rheological and time-dependent viscosity structure of the lower crust and upper mantle, all of which control the relative importance of afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation during postseismic deformation. These results enhance our understanding of subduction dynamics including the interplay of localized and distributed deformation during the subduction zone earthquake cycle.}, language = {en} }