Crustal deformation on the Korea peninsula based on GNSS data during 2004–2015

Abstract

Since the 2011 Tohoku megathrust earthquake had been occurred, there were strong demands to monitor and mitigate the geological hazards such as an earthquake and volcano in South Korea. This study focused on the crustal deformation, which indicates the earth's dynamics on or below the surface, for the long periods or by the transient events using the GNSS data and the Bernese software v5.2. The Korea peninsula has moved to the south-east direction with 3.3cm per a year during 2004–2015 when the GNSS data have been available. Also, it was testified that the transient displacement had been appeared on the Korea peninsula by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Therefore, we conclude that there needs to accumulate GNSS observations over the longer duration and to periodically analyze the crustal deformation as a phenomenon related to the seismic activity.