InSAR time-series analysis for assessing seismic hazards

Earthquakes occur during movement along plate boundaries and active faults. Evaluation of seismic hazards on active faults relies on the understanding of seismic histories and rates of the current deformation. However, in some fault zones large earthquakes have long recurrence periods (> 100-10,000 years; e.g., Tian Shan, China; Charlevoix, Quebec), and thus past seismic statistics are rare. In these regions, it is critical to estimate the present-day deformation rates and compare them to the long-term rates, in order to assess to what degree the geological deformation are accommodated by slow-slip or small-magnitude seismic events. Recent advances in time-series analysis of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data provide an efficient way to estimate the surface motion over decadal scales, and has great potential to be a powerful tool for seismic hazards assessment. This project will use the Tian Shan Thrust Belt as an example to improve and refine the algorithm for InSAR time-series analysis and the outcome will be relevant to studies of other fault zones worldwide.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ruohong Jiao

Student:

Partner:

University of Leeds

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Victoria

Program: