Measuring the motion of lithospheric plates

Background
Did you notice that Earth’s moving plates carry parts of continents and parts of oceans? there are two
kinds of crust: continental and oceanic. Continental crust forms Earth’s continents. It is generally 30–50 km
thick and most of it is very old. Some continental crust has been dated as 4 billion years old.
The geologic structure of the continental crust is generally very complicated, as you will learn later. In
contrast, the oceanic crust is only 5–10 km thick and it is young in terms of geologic time. All of the oceanic
crust on Earth is younger than about 200 million years old.
 GPS—Measuring Plate Motion
What is GPS?
GPS is a relatively new technology that uses signals sent from satellites orbiting the Earth to very accurately
determine the location on receivers on the surface.
GPS is based on technologies developed for military and aerospace research, notably radio astronomy
and satellite tracking. These satellites continuously transmit radio signals back to Earth.
 To determine its precise position on Earth (longitude, latitude, elevation), each GPS
receiver must simultaneously obtain signals from at least four satellites.
Note that:
GPS can answer 5 questions simultaneously:
1. “Where am I?”
2. “Where am I going?”
3. “Where in my destination?”
4. “What’s the best way to get there?
5. “When will I get there?”
GPS is the only system today that can show your exact position on the Earth anytime, no matter where
you are as long as you have contact with several satellites!
Satellites:
 GPS relies on two dozen navigational satellites that orbit our planet at 20,200 km (12,500 mi) above
the surface every 12 hours, as part of the NavStar system of the U.S. Department of Defense.
 Spacing was determined so that from any point on Earth, at least 4 satellites will be above the horizon
and detectable.

Each satellite has: 1) A computer, 2) An atomic clock (Universal Time Coordinated, UTC), and 3) A radio.)

 With a computerized understanding of its own orbit, it continually broadcasts its changing position and
time via radio signals.
 Once a day, each satellite checks its own time and position with a ground station to make any needed
corrections. This makes the GPS receiver the most accurate time piece available to you.

GPS Receiver:
 The GPS receiver on the ground detects the radio signals from the satellites and the computer
“triangulates” its own position by getting bearings from a minimum of 3 satellites. If 4 or more satellites
can be received, the receiver/computer can figure out the altitude as well as the geographic position.
 Triangulation
Triangulation: is a geometric calculation of the distance from, and the angle to, each satellite.
 The more satellites the GPS receiver “sees” the more accurate the location determination will be.
 The result is provided in longitude and latitude and can be accurate to within a range of 10–20 meters
for hand held GPS, and to within millimeters for anchored GPS stations.
 The most advanced GPS receivers used for the Plate Boundary Observatory can determine their location
to a precision equal to the size of a grain of rice!
 If the GPS receiver is also equipped with a display screen that shows a map, the position can be shown
on the map. If you are moving, most GPS receivers can calculate your speed and direction of travel and
possibly give you estimated times of arrival to specified destinations.

The Global Positioning System (GPS): is comprised of three segments.

 Control Segment
 Space Segment
 User Segment
Control Segment:
 The Control segment is made up of a Master Control Station (MCS), four Monitor stations, and three
ground antennas (plus a reserve antenna at Cape Canaveral used primarily for pre-launch satellite
testing) used to uplink data to the satellites.
Space Segment:
 The space segment is an earth-orbiting constellation of 24 active and five spare GPS satellites circling
the earth in six orbital planes.
 Each satellite is oriented at an angle of 55 degrees to the equator.
 The nominal circular orbit is 20,200-kilometer (10,900 nautical miles) altitude. Each satellite
completes one earth orbit every twelve hours (two orbits every 24 hours).
 That's an orbital speed of about 1.8 miles per second.
User Segment:
• Military.
• Search and rescue.
• Disaster relief.
• Surveying.
• Marine, aeronautical and terrestrial navigation.
• Remote controlled vehicle and robot guidance.
• Satellite positioning and tracking.
• Shipping.
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Where am I on the map?

Imagine you are lost on campus; you are holding a campus map in your hand but
it does not help much. You ask someone on campus: "Where am I?" and the person
answers "you are 500m away from the university center" and he walks away. You
locate the university center, labeled as UC on the campus map, but that does help
much since you could be anywhere on the circle C1 centered at UC and of radius 500
m. You draw C1 using the scaling of the campus map.
 You ask another person passing by the same question to which he answers:
"you are 375m away from the Math Department" and walks away. You locate the
Math Department on the map, labeled as MD, and you draw on your map the circle
C2 centered at MD and of radius 375 m. This new information will significantly
narrow your location to two possible points, namely the intersection points of
circles C1 and C2.

To know which of the two points A and B is your location, it suffices to

draw a third circle that would intersect the other two. You locate another
building on your map, relatively close to UC and MD, say the Faculty of
Engineering, labeled as FE on the map. You ask a third person passing by: "How
far am I from the Faculty of Engineering?" and he answers "about 200 m". You
then draw the circle C3 on the map centered at F E and of radius 200 m.

The point where the three circles meet determines your (relatively) exact location.
Of course, in order for this to work, you must be lucky enough to have people passing by giving you
(relatively) precise distances from various locations and to be able to somehow work the scale of the map
to draw (relatively) accurate circles.
What is probably more important is the kind of question you should ask the third person in order to endure
that the third circle will somehow meet the other two at exactly one point.
 Tectonic Plates
The earth’s surface is made up of massive slabs of rock known as tectonic plates (known as the lithosphere).
 There are 15 major plates which float on a softer layer of the earth called the asthenosphere (Figure
1).
 Because these tectonic plates are floating, changes underneath the plates and the earth’s rotation
cause them to ‘drift’ about at very small speeds.
 By installing high accuracy GPS receivers on each plate, scientists can record the speed and direction
that each plate is travelling in.
 Once installed, these receivers can operate for decades, allowing scientists to analyze any changes
to the direction of each plate’s movement.
Reading GPS time-series plots:
GPS measures rate of movement in north, east, and vertical directions that are combined to give
information of the location in 3-D space. These motions are recorded onto three separate graphs as
illustrated by Figures 3A and 3B.
WHAT IS A RATE?
 A rate is a speed of motion
 Velocity has both magnitude (rate = speed) and direction of
motion
 Velocities are represented by vectors
 Vectors can be mathematically manipulated
 Vectors can be used to describe properties of motion.
 A perfect example is the velocity maps used to describe how fast and
in what direction GPS sites on the Earth’s plates are moving.
 Scientists first calculate velocities for each GPS site in centimeters per
year, using mathematical equations.
 Then, they place the velocities, in the form of vectors, on a map of the Earth.
 This allows them to get a better mental picture of what is happening to the plates worldwide.
 Velocity maps can be made for any area where the displacements of a sets of points been determined
over an interval of time.
 A displacement is an overall change in position from the start to the end of a measurement interval.
 For maps of plate velocity, the rates are often given in cm/year.
 Using GPS to Study Earthquakes & Volcanoes
Earthquakes & Landslides
 Because tectonic plates drift about on the asthenosphere, it is not
uncommon for them to collide into each other from time to time.
 When the plates collide, the surrounding landscape shakes (and sometimes
shatters), causing what we know as earthquakes.

 This is why cities which lie on or near plate boundaries are more prone to
earthquakes than those that are located near the middle of a plate.
 When plates interact with each other, they result in a variety of different features.
 If both plate boundaries exist on land, they often produce features known as ‘faults’ throughout the
landscape. The type of fault will depend on the direction that each plate is
moving in, as shown in Figure 2.
 Since the development of high accuracy GPS receivers, scientists have been using
them to assess the severity of earthquakes across different parts of the globe.
 By installing permanent GPS receivers on either side of a fault line, it is possible
to determine how much the landscape has shifted after each earthquake occurs.
 Faults can also occur on smaller scales due to landslides or other local stresses
within the bedrock.
 High accuracy GPS can be setup on the moving parts of different landslides to
determine how fast they’re moving.
 If GPS shows that a landslide is moving progressively
faster, it may be a sign that the landscape may soon
collapse altogether, allowing scientists to warn the
authorities and nearby residents.
Volcanoes
 In recent years, high accuracy GPS has also been used
to monitor volcanic activity across various parts of the
world.
 Volcanic eruptions occur when molten rock (known
as magma), ash and gases beneath the ground
release on the earth’s surface, often with tremendous force.
 As magma makes its way towards the surface, the immense pressure
can often cause the landscape surrounding the volcano to ‘bulge’
slightly.

 By deploying high accuracy GPS at strategic locations over volcanoes,

scientists can monitor the height of the landscape.
 If any sudden or abnormal increases in position are detected, they
may indicate that a chamber within the volcano is swelling with
magma and that an eruption may occur in the future.
 GPS can therefore be a useful tool for predicting volcanic eruptions.
  This in turn leads to early warnings and the evacuation
of both people and property prior to the disaster,
which helps to minimize damage and ultimately save
lives.
Example: Monitoring volcanic deformation in Hawai`i
 Changes to the surface of a volcano (volcano
deformation) can provide clues about what is
happening deep below the surface and provide telltale
information of a forthcoming eruption. Deformation
can be measured with GPS.

Conclusion
 The satellites are powered by solar cells, and contain computers and extremely accurate clocks.
 GPS receivers on the ground, at sea, in the air, or in space can lock onto the timing signals from at
least four satellites to determine the latitude, longitude, and elevation of the receiver.
 GPS uses triangulation from a constellation of satellites to determine four-dimensional (x, y, z, t)
space-time locations of “targets” on Earth’s surface.
 The “target” is the GPS instrument (receiver). The GPS receiver picks up a signal from four satellites.
Simply put, a distance from the receiver to each satellite is computed from the arrival times of the
signal to each satellite. Then, an exact position in three dimensions and time of measurement can be
calculated because the four distance values
 The GPS system provides many advantages over traditional navigation techniques. This includes:
 Reliable position fixes with high accuracy (to within ~5 metres)
 The service operates at any time of the day or night.
 Operates in all weather conditions.
 Is available anywhere on the planet.
 Free for the public to use.
 Operation is very simple and requires little knowledge of traditional navigation techniques.
Some of the limitations of the GPS system are:
 Requires a power supply to operate, either through mains electricity or batteries.
 Requires a sufficiently clear view of the sky in order to obtain a position fix, so the user must be outside.
GPS receivers may not operate in dense forests, deep canyons or anywhere where there is limited sky
view.
 It is an electronic device, so it is susceptible to malfunction due if damaged (e.g. dropping a GPS
receiver from a large height or immersing it in water).