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Kilometer-resolution three-dimensional crustal deformation of Tibetan Plateau from InSAR and GNSS

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Abstract

Located at the forefront of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates, the Tibetan Plateau experiences intense crustal movement. Traditional ground-based geodetic monitoring, such as GNSS and leveling, is challenging, due to factors such as high altitude and harsh climate, making it difficult to accurately determine a high-resolution crustal deformation field of the plateau. Unaffected by ground observation conditions, InSAR technique has key advantages for obtaining extensive and high-resolution crustal deformation fields. This makes it indispensable for crustal deformation monitoring on the Tibetan Plateau. This study used Sentinel-1 data from 2014 to 2020 to compute the ascending and descending InSAR deformation fields for the Tibetan Plateau. This was conducted with a measurement accuracy of approximately 3 mm/yr. Building upon this, we integrated InSAR and GNSS data to yield kilometer-resolution three-dimensional (3D) crustal deformation and strain rate fields for the Tibetan Plateau. A spherical wavelet analysis was used to decompose the 3D deformation field and separate the non-tectonic crustal deformation to increase the strength of the tectonic deformation signal. Short-wavelength (<110 km) deformations match the distribution of fault movement, post-seismic deformations, and other non-tectonic factors. Long wavelength (>110 km) deformation mainly results from subsidence in the central plateau and uplifts along the Himalayan Arc. This indicates that the Tibetan Plateau may have stopped the entire uplift and entered a local collapse stage. Furthermore, the deformation fields at different spatial scales reveal that the plateau exhibits discontinuous deformation in short wavelengths and continuous deformation in long wavelengths. The findings of this study contribute to resolving the controversy between the Block and Continuum Deformation models of the Tibetan Plateau.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Peizhen ZHANG of Sun Yat-sen University for helpful discussions. Appreciation is extended to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and valuable suggestions on the revisions of this manuscript. Special thanks go to the National Earthquake Data Backup Center for providing computing power support through their supercomputing platform. The authors also acknowledge the support provided by the following institutions: Sentinel-1 SAR data from the Copernicus Open Access Hub (https://scihub.copernicus.eu), meteorological reanalysis data (ECMWF/ERA5) from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (https://www.ecmwf.int), SRTM DEM data downloaded freely from the U.S. Geological Survey (https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov), and global hydrological quality change data provided by Dr. Weilong RAO from Changsha University of Science & Technology. This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (SETP) (Grant No. 2019QZKK0901), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42130101, 42074007, and 42104061), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFC1500501), and the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi (Grant No. 2023-JC-QN-0292).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Chuanjin Liu & Caijun Xu

  2. The Second Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Chuanjin Liu, Lingyun Ji, Liangyu Zhu & Qingliang Wang

  3. College of Geological Engineering and Geomatics, Chang’an University, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Chaoying Zhao

  4. Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 75025, USA

    Zhong Lu

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  1. Chuanjin Liu
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Correspondence to Caijun Xu.

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Liu, C., Ji, L., Zhu, L. et al. Kilometer-resolution three-dimensional crustal deformation of Tibetan Plateau from InSAR and GNSS. Sci. China Earth Sci. 67, 1818–1835 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1289-4

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