Map of plate boundaries, selected earthquakes, and GPS velocities relative to NAM08 reference frame (fixed to the stable cratonic interior of North America), produced using UNAVCO's GPS Velocity Viewer..
A perspective on revolutions, revisions, rights, and responsibilities in the geosciences
Revised October 7, 2024
The basis of our current understanding of plate tectonics: reference frames, precise positioning, and data collection enabled by satellite systems
Resources
Presentation Files
Web resources
- Videos about space geodesy, VLBI, SLR svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11031
- VLBI resources at McDonald Observatory, Texas mcdonaldobservatory.org/research/telescopes/mgo
- GPS satellite constellation: www.navcen.uscg.gov/gps-constellation
- International Celestial Reference System: www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Home/home_node.html
- Nevada Geodetic Laboratory, MAGNET GPS Network: geodesy.unr.edu/magnet.php
- Nevada Geodetic Laboratory, GPS Networks Map: geodesy.unr.edu/NGLStationPages/gpsnetmap/GPSNetMap_MAG.html
- Sources of station data for GPS Station P150:
- Open Topography (for LiDAR data): OpenTopography.org
- Spinning topo/bathy globe visualization: sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/etopo2-topography-and-bathymetry-natural-colors/
- Ship tracklines visualization: sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/ship-tracklines-of-multibeam-bathymetric-surveys/
- World Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map version 2.1: www.wdmam.org
- Determining crustal strain from instantaneous velocities of three adjacent GPS stations — Cronin, V.S., and Resor, P., 2014, GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes: GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues, accessible via
serc.carleton.edu/getsi/teaching_materials/gps_strain/index.html
Video resources
- Videos about space geodesy, VLBI, SLR: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11031
- VLBI resources at McDonald Observatory, Texas: mcdonaldobservatory.org/research/telescopes/mgo
- GPS strain in Cascadia, YouTube, 6 min 28 sec: youtu.be/gNGs7oW9aAU
- Strain from GPS velocities, YouTube, 4 min 23 sec: youtu.be/HGnr4dSE92I
- How to get GPS data from UNAVCO, YouTube, 6 min 52 sec: youtu.be/BYzCZh3RpyU
- How to use the Excel GPS-strain calculator, YouTube, 4 min 57 sec: youtu.be/nJJudaorc4w
References
For a more extensive set of tectonics-related resources, go to the page associated with the second LLS2024 lecture: CroninProjects.org/Oct2024/Revolution1/
- Altamimi, Z., Rebischung, P., Collilieux, X., Metivier, L, and Chanard, K., 2023, ITRF2020: an augmented reference frame refining the modeling of nonlinear station motions: Journal of Geodesy, v. 97(47), 22 p.
- Altamimi, Z., Metivier, L., Rebischung, P., Collilieux, X, Chanard, K., and Barneoud, J., 2023, ITRF2020 Plate Motion Model: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 50, e2023GL106373, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL106373.
- Clynch, J.R., 2006, Earth coordinates: http://clynchg3c.com/Technote/geodesy/coorddef.pdf
- Cronin, V.S., Resor, P., Hammond, W., Kreemer, C., and Pratt-Sitaula, B., 2014, GPS, Strain, and Earthquakes module, GETSI Collection, accessible via https://serc.carleton.edu/getsi/teaching_materials/gps_strain/index.html (a curricular module with activities, background information, and strain calculator codes in Excel, Mathematica, and MatLab)
- Einstein, A., 1950, The laws of science and the laws of ethics, in Albert Einstein, Out of my later years: Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Wings Books, 288 p.. ISBN 0-510-09380-4
- Foerste, Christoph; Bruinsma, Sean.L.; Abrykosov, Oleh; Lemoine, Jean-Michel; Marty, Jean Charles; Flechtner, Frank; Balmino, Georges; Barthelmes, Franz; Biancale, Richard (2014): EIGEN-6C4 The latest combined global gravity field model including GOCE data up to degree and order 2190 of GFZ Potsdam and GRGS Toulouse. GFZ Data Services. https://doi.org/10.5880/icgem.2015.1; https://dataservices.gfz-potsdam.de/icgem/showshort.php?id=escidoc:1119897
- Freed, A.M., Burgmann, R., Calais, E., and Freymueller, J., 2006, Stress-dependent power-law flow in the upper mantle following the 2002 Denali, Alaska, earthquake: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 252, p. 481-489.
- Kreemer, C., Lavallee, D.A., Blewitt, G., and Holt, W.E., 2006, On the stability of a geodetic no-net-rotation frame and its implication for the International Terrestrial Reference Frame: Geophysical Research Letters, v. 33, L17306, doi:10.1029/2006GL027058.
- Minster, J.B., and others, 2010, Precise Geodetic Infrastructure — National Requirements for a Shared Resource: Washington, D.C., The National Academies Press, 142 p., https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12954/precise-geodetic-infrastructure-national-requirements-for-a-shared-resource
- Moreaux, G., Lemoine, F.G., Argus, D.F., Santamaria-Gomez, A., Willis, P., Soudarin, L., Gravelle, M., and Ferrage, P., 2016, Horizontal and vertical velocities derived from the IDS contribution to ITRF2014, and comparisons with geophysical models: Geophysicla Journal International, v. 207, p. 209-227, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggw265
- Ryan, J.W., and Ma, C., 1998, NASA-GSFC's Geodetic VLBI Program: a twenty-year retrospective: Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, v. 23, no. 9-10, p. 1041-1052.
- Sandwell, D.T., 2001, Plate Tectonics: A Martian View, in Oreskes, N., [editor], Plate Tectonics — An Insider's History of the Modern Theory of the Earth: Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press, p. 331-345.
- Sandwell, D.T., Muller, R.D., Smith, W.H.F., Garcia, E., and Francis, R., 2014, New global marine gravity model from CryoSat-2 and Jason-1 reveals buried tectonic structure: Science, v. 346, no. 6205, p. 65-67, doi: 10.1126/science.1258213
- Sandwell, D.T., and Smith, W.H.F., 1997, Marine gravity anomaly from Geosat and ERS 1 satellite altimetry: Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 102, no B5, p. 10,039-10,054.
- Soler, T., 1998, A compendium of transformation formulas useful in GPS work: Journal of Geodesy, v. 72, p. 482-490.
If you have any questions or comments about this site or its contents, drop an email to
Vince_Cronin(at)CroninProjects.org.