Estimation of the Crustal Deformation Caused by Earthquake and Its Use in Updating Published Coordinates of Geodetic Control Points - A Case Study of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake’s Impact in South Korea

Abstract

The Tohoku Earthquake, which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, was a massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake, with the earthquake itself causing damage and the resulting tsunami additionally causing enormous material and human damage. The crustal deformation at that time reached a maximum of 5.24 m in Japan, Neighboring countries South Korea and China as well as the Southeast Asian region also witnessed crustal deformation ranging from a few centimeters to a few meters. The detailed analysis in this study based on data from 72 of the sites in South Korea where GNSS CORS was installed showed that South Korea underwent heterogeneous crustal deformation from the Tohoku earthquake, with a maximum of 55.5 mm, a minimum of 9.2 mm, and an average of 22.42 mm. A crustal deformation model was developed, applied, and evaluated for accuracy in this study for a prompt revision of the survey results of the control points that were changed by the crustal deformation. The survey results were revised by applying a crustal deformation model to the 1,195 unified control points installed in South Korea prior to the Tohoku earthquake. The comparison of these 1,195 points with their new survey results showed that the RMSE decreased from 14.1 to 3.4 mm and that the maximum result difference declined from 39 to 10 mm. Revision of the survey results of the control points using the crustal deformation model is deemed very useful considering that the accuracy of the survey results of the unified control points in South Korea is 3 cm.