We present and interpret Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of crustal motions for the period 1988–1997 at 189 sites extending east-west from the Caucasus mountains to the Adriatic Sea and north-south from the southern edge of the Eurasian plate to the northern edge of the African plate. Sites on the northern Arabian platform move 18±2 mm/yr at N25°±5°W relative to Eurasia, less than the NUVEL-1A circuit closure rate (25±1 mm/yr at N21°±7°W). Preliminary motion estimates (1994–1997) for stations located in Egypt on the northeastern part of Africa show northward motion at 5–6±2 mm/yr, also slower than NUVEL-IA estimates (10±1 mm/yr at N2°±4°E). Eastern Turkey is characterized by distributed deformation, while central Turkey is characterized by coherent plate motion (internal deformation of <2 mm/yr) involving westward displacement and counterclockwise rotation of the Anatolian plate. The Anatolian plate is de-coupled from Eurasia along the right-lateral, strike-slip North Anatolian fault (NAF). We derive a best fitting Euler vector for Anatolia-Eurasia motion of 30.7°± 0.8°N, 32.6°± 0.4°E, 1.2°±0.1°/Myr. The Euler vector gives an upper bound for NAF slip rate of 24±1 mm/yr. We determine a preliminary GPS Arabia-Anatolia Euler vector of 32.9°±1.2°N, 40.3°±1.1°E, 0.8°±0.2°/Myr and an upper bound on left-lateral slip on the East Anatolian fault (EAF) of 9±1 mm/yr. The central and southern Aegean is characterized by coherent motion (internal deformation of <2 mm/yr) toward the SW at 30±1 mm/yr relative to Eurasia. Stations in the SE Aegean deviate significantly from the overall motion of the southern Aegean, showing increasing velocities toward the trench and reaching 10±1 mm/yr relative to the southern Aegean as a whole.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/1999JB900351

Global Positioning System constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern Mediterranean and Caucasus

Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements in China indicate that crustal shortening accommodates most of India's penetration into Eurasia. Deformation within the Tibetan Plateau and its margins, the Himalaya, the Altyn Tagh, and the Qilian Shan, absorbs more than 90% of the relative motion between the Indian and Eurasian plates. Internal shortening of the Tibetan plateau itself accounts for more than one-third of the total convergence. However, the Tibetan plateau south of the Kunlun and Ganzi-Mani faults is moving eastward relative to both India and Eurasia. This movement is accommodated through rotation of material around the eastern Syntaxis. The North China and South China blocks, east of the Tibetan Plateau, move coherently east-southeastward at rates of 2 to 8 millimeters per year and 6 to 11 millimeters per year, respectively, with respect to the stable Eurasia.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/294/5542/574.full.pdf

Present-Day Crustal Deformation in China Constrained by Global Positioning System Measurements

Geochronological, structural, and sedimentological data provide the basis for a regional synthesis of the evolution of the Cordilleran retroarc thrust belt and foreland basin system in the western USA In this region, the Cordilleran orogenic belt became tectonically consolidated during Late Jurassic time ( 155 Ma) with the closure of marginal oceanic basins and accretion of fringing arcs along the western edge of the North American plate Over the ensuing 100 Myr, contractile deformation propagated approximately 1000 kilometers eastward, culminating in the formation of the Laramide Rocky Mountain ranges At the peak of its development, the retroarc side of the Cordillera was divided into five tectonomorphic zones, including from west to east the Luning-Fencemaker thrust belt; the central Nevada (or Eureka) thrust belt; a high-elevation plateau (the "Nevadaplano"); the topographically rugged Sevier fold-thrust belt; and the Laramide zone of intraforeland basement uplifts and basins Mid-crustal rocks beneath the Nevadaplano experienced high-grade metamorphism and shortening during Late Jurassic and mid- to Late Cretaceous time, and the locus of major, upper crustal thrust faulting migrated sporadically eastward By Late Cretaceous time, the middle crust beneath the Nevadaplano was experiencing decompression and cooling, perhaps in response to large-magnitude ductile extension and isostatic exhumation, concurrent with ongoing thrusting in the frontal Sevier belt The tectonic history of the Sevier belt was remarkably consistent along strike of the orogenic belt, with emplacement of regional-scale Proterozoic and Paleozoic mega- thrust sheets during Early Cretaceous time and multiple, more closely spaced, Paleo- zoic and Mesozoic thrust sheets during Late Cretaceous-Paleocene time Coeval with emplacement of the frontal thrust sheets, large structural culminations in Archean- Proterozoic crystalline basement developed along the basement step formed by Neoproterozoic rifting A complex foreland basin system evolved in concert with the orogenic wedge During its early and late history ( 155 - 110 Ma and 70 - 55 Ma) the basin was dominated by nonmarine deposition, whereas marine waters inundated the basin during its midlife ( 110 - 70 Ma) Late Jurassic basin development was controlled by both flexural and dynamic subsidence From Early Cretaceous through early Late Creta- ceous time the basin was dominated by flexural subsidence From Late Cretaceous to mid-Cenozoic time the basin was increasingly partitioned by basement-involved Laramide structures Linkages between Late Jurassic and Late Cretaceous Cordilleran arc- magmatism and westward underthrusting of North American continental lithosphere beneath the arc are not plainly demonstrable from the geological record in the Cordilleran thrust belt A significant lag-time ( 20 Myr) between shortening and coeval underthrust- ing, on the one hand, and generation of arc melts, on the other, is required for any linkage to exist However, inferred Late Jurassic lithospheric delamination may have provided a necessary precondition to allow relatively rapid Early Cretaceous continen- tal underthrusting, which in turn could have catalyzed the Late Cretaceous arc flare-up

/pdf/late-jurassic-to-eocene-evolution-of-the-cordilleran-thrust-jx3x655k2a.pdf

Late Jurassic to Eocene evolution of the Cordilleran thrust belt and foreland basin system, western U.S.A.

http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~yin/05-Publications/papers/124-Yin-2010-Tectonophysics.pdf

Cenozoic tectonic evolution of Asia: A preliminary synthesis

SUMMARY We use continuously recording GPS (CGPS) and survey-mode GPS (SGPS) observations to determine Euler vectors for relative motion of the African (Nubian), Arabian and Eurasian plates. We present a well-constrained Eurasia‐Nubia Euler vector derived from 23 IGS sites in Europe and four CGPS and three SGPS sites on the Nubian Plate (−0.95 ± 4.8 ◦ N, −21.8 ± 4.3 ◦ E, 0.06 ± 0.005 ◦ Myr −1 ). We see no significant (> 1m m yr −1 ) internal deformation of the Nubian Plate. The GPS Nubian‐Eurasian Euler vector differs significantly from NUVEL-1A (21.0 ± 4.2 ◦ N, −20.6 ± 0.6 ◦ E, 0.12 ± 0.015 ◦ Myr −1 ), implying more westward motion of Africa relative to Eurasia and slower convergence in the eastern Mediterranean. The Arabia‐ Eurasia and Arabia‐Nubia GPS Euler vectors are less well determined, based on only one CGPS and three SGPS sites on the Arabian Plate. The preliminary Arabia‐Eurasia and Arabia‐ Nubia Euler vectors are 27.4 ± 1.0 ◦ N, 18.4 ± 2.5 ◦ E, 0.40 ± 0.04 ◦ Myr −1 , and 30.5 ± 1.0 ◦ N, 25.7 ± 2.3 ◦ E, 0.37 ± 0.04 ◦ Myr −1 , respectively. The GPS Arabia‐Nubia Euler vector differs significantly from NUVEL-1A (24.1 ± 1.7 ◦ N, 24.0 ± 3.5 ◦ E, 0.40 ± 0.05 ◦ Myr −1 ), but is statistically consistent at the 95 per cent confidence level with the revised Euler vector reported by Chu & Gordon based on a re-evaluation of magnetic anomalies in the Red Sea (31.5 ± 1.2 ◦ N, 23.0 ± 2.7 ◦ E, 0.40 ± 0.05 ◦ Myr −1 ). The motion implied in the Gulf of Aqaba and on the Dead Sea fault (DSF) by the new GPS Nubia‐Arabia Euler vector (i.e. ignoring possible Sinai block motion and possible internal plate deformation) grades from pure left lateral strike-slip in the Gulf and on the southern DSF with increasing compression on the central and northern DSF with relative motion increasing from 5.6 to 7.5 mm yr −1 (± 1m m yr −1 ) from south to north. Along the northern DSF (i.e. north of the Lebanon restraining bend) motion is partitioned between 6 ± 1m m yr −1 left-lateral motion parallel to the fault trace and 4 ± 1m m yr −1 faultnormal compression. Relative motions on other plate boundaries (including the Anatolian and Aegean microplates) derived from the GPS Euler vectors agree qualitatively with the sense of motion indicated by focal mechanisms for large crustal earthquakes (M > 6). Where data are available on fault-slip rates on plate bounding faults (North Anatolian fault, East Anatolian fault, Dead Sea fault, Red Sea rift), they are generally lower than, but not significantly different from, the full plate motion estimates suggesting that the majority of relative plate motion is accommodated on these structures.

/pdf/gps-constraints-on-africa-nubia-and-arabia-plate-motions-h9x6u7u4wg.pdf

GPS constraints on Africa (Nubia) and Arabia plate motions

THE Tien Shan—a high, seismically active intracontinental mountain belt, 1,000–2,000 km north of the Himalaya—has grown as a result of India's collision with Asia1. The crustal shortening (~ 200 ± 50 km; refs 2, 3) and thickening that gave rise to the Tien Shan accommodates only a small fraction of India's total penetration into Asia (2,000—3,000km), and the temporal relationship of deformation in this belt to the India–Asia collision remains unclear. Here we report geodetic measurements of the Tien Shan, using the Global Positioning System (GPS), that indicate that the current crustal shortening rate is nearly half of India's convergence rate with Eurasia in this area4. We infer a total shortening rate for the Tien Shan of ~20 mm yr−1, which is approximately twice that inferred previously from the extrapolation of slip rates in the Holocene3 and earthquake-induced displacements during this century5, suggesting that the rate of mountain building in this region has accelerated several-fold since the onset of collision ~50–55 Myr ago6,7. If, as we argue, the current shortening rate can be extrapolated to geological timescales, then our results suggest that most of the Tien Shan has been constructed during the past 10 Myr, perhaps in response to an increased horizontal force following an abrupt rise of the Tibetan plateau8,9.

Relatively recent construction of the Tien Shan inferred from GPS measurements of present-day crustal deformation rates

We use Global Positioning System (GPS) data from 1993–2000 to determine horizontal velocities of 65 stations in eastern California and western Nevada between 35° and 37° N. We relate the geodetic velocities to fault slip rates using a block model that enforces path integral constraints over geologic and geodetic time scales and that includes the effects of elastic strain accumulation on faults locked to a depth of 15 km. The velocity of the Sierra Nevada block with respect to Nevada is 11.1±0.3 mm/yr, with slip partitioned across the Death Valley, (2.8±0.5 mm/yr), Panamint Valley (2.5±0.8 mm/yr), and Airport Lake/Owens Valley (5.3±0.7/4.6±0.5 mm/yr) faults. The western Mojave block rotates at 2.1±0.8°/My clockwise, with 3.7±0.7 mm/yr of left lateral motion across the western Garlock Fault. We infer 11±2 mm/yr of right lateral motion across the Mojave region of the Eastern California Shear Zone.

/pdf/present-day-kinematics-of-the-eastern-california-shear-zone-4spy6xokj3.pdf

Present day kinematics of the Eastern California Shear Zone from a geodetically constrained block model

Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements (1991-1994) traversing the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains indicate a minimum N-S shortening of 10 ± 2 mm/yr. This represents approximately 30 - 50% of the NUVEL-1A convergence rate between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. The remainder of the convergence appears to be accommodated in the areas south of the Lesser Caucasus, by a combination of right-lateral strike-slip faulting on planes oriented N120°E, and shortening on thrust faults with similar orientations. More dense GPS observations conducted in the epicentral area of the April 29, 1991, M s =7.0 Racha, Georgia earthquake, which occurred along the southern boundary fault of the Greater Caucasus mountains, indicate N-S shortening following the earthquake which we interpret as due to post-seismic slip. This mechanism may contribute to the substantially lower shortening rates derived from seismic moment tensors compared with tectonic estimates of shortening rates in the Caucasus.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/97GL01672

Preliminary estimates of plate convergence in the Caucasus Collision Zone from global positioning system measurements

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Relatively recent construction of the Tien Shan inferred from GPS measurements of present-day crustal deformation rates

Present day kinematics of the Eastern California Shear Zone from a geodetically constrained block model

Preliminary estimates of plate convergence in the Caucasus Collision Zone from global positioning system measurements