Crustal deformation estimation using InSAR, West of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt

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Abstract Egypt, for its location in the northeastern corner of Africa, is exposed to continuous tectonic activities. To the North, the subduction of the oceanic African plate under the Eurasian plate provides a seismic activity along the Hellenic and Cyprian arcs. To the East, Egypt is affected by the divergence between the African and Arabian plates along the Red Sea. The E-W fault trend is one of the three main fault trends in Egypt and it starts at the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez towards Cairo. Moreover, the government is planning to expand economically development along the Cairo-Suez Province. Most of the new housing and industrial cities are located between Cairo and Suez. To estimate of crustal deformation in the region, ∼140 Sentinel-1 SAR images were collected and distributed equally over 7 years (2015–2021). The PSI processing is applied to calculate a Line-of-sight velocity field. A GNSS station that exists in the area of study “SUEZ” as well as a close station “KATA” are analyzed using Bernese software V. 5 to validate InSAR results. The estimated horizontal velocities show the northwestern part of the study area is moving westward with 3–4 mm/yr while the southeastern zone is moving eastward with 2–4 mm/yr. The configuration of motion indicates a strike-slip motion along the local E-W fault. The velocity rate obtained from Bernese software for SUEZ station is 2 ± 0.35 mm/yr in the northeastern direction. Vertically, the northwestern part of the study area shows uplift rate of 2 mm/yr while the southeastern part along the coast of the Gulf of Suez subsides with 4–5 mm/yr. For GNSS, SUEZ station is shown to have an uplift rate of 1.55 ± 0.40 mm/yr. A remarkable agreement is noticed between the results of InSAR and GNSS for both horizontal and vertical components. Decision makers shall take such results into consideration while the large planning of investments in promising areas.