We present a first-order method for modeling broadscale deformation consistent
with both plate tectonic motions and elastic strain accumulation on plate
boundary faults. Interseismic deformation is assumed to be a superposition of
long-term rigid-body motions between faults, defined by angular velocities of
spherical plates, and backslip on shallow locked portions of faults in an
elastic half-space. This method is applied to 1993-2000 continuous GPS data
from 35 sites in a profile from the San Francisco Bay area, northern California,
to eastern Nevada. Deformation is consistent, within the 1 mm yr
uncertainties of the estimated site velocities, with a simple 10-parameter
model using 6 rigid plates and 3 locked San Andreas system faults.
Published in Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 4315-4318, 2001. Copyright 2001 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.
Complete manuscript preprint PDF
Station velocity vectors Ascii Table
Complete velocity solution Gzipped SINEX