Testing for fault activity at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, using independent GPS results from the BARGEN network
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چکیده
[1] Data from BARGEN GPS stations around Yucca Mountain (YM) have been independently processed using GIPSY-OASIS and GAMIT/GLOBK. The RMS velocity differences between these solutions is 0.06 mm/yr (east component) and 0.10 mm/yr (north), indicating an ability to resolve tectonic signals >0.3 mm/yr with high confidence. Inversion of GPS station velocities for Eastern California Shear Zone (ECSZ) fault parameters produces an unreasonably deep locking depth of 30 km for the Death Valley-Furnace Creek fault system, contradicting seismological evidence. The GPS cluster locally west of YM observes a strain rate of 17.0 ± 1.8 ns/yr, marginally higher than our ECSZ model predicts (13.9 ± 0.7 ns/yr). Significantly, the cluster to the east observes 22.3 ± 2.1 ns/yr, which is 6.2s higher than the model (8.6 ± 0.7 ns/yr), suggesting that additional sources of strain more local to YM (<30 km) are currently active, collectively accumulating >0.7 mm/yr. Citation: Hill, E. M., and G. Blewitt (2006), Testing for fault activity at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, using independent GPS results from the BARGEN network, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L14302, doi:10.1029/2006GL026140.
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