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Topo-Iberia project: CGPS crustal velocity field in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco

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Abstract

A new continuous GPS network was installed under the umbrella of a research project called “Geociencias en Iberia: Estudios integrados de topografía y evolución 4D (Topo-Iberia)”, to improve understanding of kinematic behavior of the Iberian Peninsula region. Here we present a velocity field based on the analysis of the 4 years of data from 25 stations constituting the network, which were analyzed by three different analysis groups contributing to the project. Different geodetic software packages (GIPSY–OASIS, Bernese and GAMIT) as well as different approaches were used to estimate rates of present day crustal deformation in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. In order to ensure the consistency of the velocity fields determined by the three groups, the velocities obtained by each analysis center were transformed into a common Eurasia Reference Frame. After that, the strain rate field was calculated. The results put in evidence more prominent residual motions in Morocco and southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the dilatation and shear strain rates reach their maximum values in the Central Betics and northern Alboran Sea. A small region of high shear strain rate is observed in the east-central part of the peninsula and another deformation focus is located around the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been funded by the Spanish Government through the research project “Geosciences in Iberia: Integrated studies on topography and 4-D evolution” (CSD2006-00041). We acknowledge all those people, representing various institutions, who participated in searching for appropriate site locations, and their consequent installation and operation. Also, we would like to thank the landowners who gave their generous permission to install the scientific equipment on their properties. Most of the figures were prepared using the public domain Generic Mapping Tools GMT (Wessel et al. 2013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Real Instituto Observatorio Armada, 11100, San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain

    J. Garate & J. Martin-Davila

  2. Dpto. Geodinámica i Geofísica, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    G. Khazaradze, A. Echeverria & E. Asensio

  3. Dpto. Ing. Cartográfica, Geodesia y Fotogrametría, University of Jaen, Jaén, Spain

    A. J. Gil, M. C. de Lacy, J. A. Armenteros & A. M. Ruiz

  4. CEACTierra. Centro de EstudiosAvanzados de Ciencias de la Tierra, Jaén, Spain

    A. J. Gil, M. C. de Lacy, J. A. Armenteros & A. M. Ruiz

  5. Dpto. Geología, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    J. Gallastegui

  6. Dpto. Geología, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    F. Alvarez-Lobato

  7. Instituto Geológico Minero de España, Madrid, Spain

    C. Ayala

  8. Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Ayala

  9. Dpto. Astronomía y Geodesia, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    G. Rodríguez-Caderot

  10. Dpto. Geodinámica, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

    J. Galindo-Zaldívar

  11. Institute Scientifique, University Mohammed V-Agdal, Rabat, Morocco

    A. Rimi & M. Harnafi

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  1. J. Garate
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  2. J. Martin-Davila
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  3. G. Khazaradze
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  4. A. Echeverria
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  12. C. Ayala
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  14. J. Galindo-Zaldívar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Garate.

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Garate, J., Martin-Davila, J., Khazaradze, G. et al. Topo-Iberia project: CGPS crustal velocity field in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. GPS Solut 19, 287–295 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-014-0387-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-014-0387-3

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