International audienceThe Gulf of California, Mexico, was formed by the separation of the peninsular Baja California from North America between 12 and 6 Ma. Its transtensional fault system is composed of an en échelon array of long right-lateral transform fault segments that alternate with short extensionalbasins and spreading ridges. This tectonic setting provides a unique opportunity to study deformation associated with the transition of a continentalstrike-slip fault (the San Andreas Fault) to seafloor spreading (East Pacific Rise) along a rapidly moving fault system. The studied area is composedof the peninsular Baja California and the continental area of the Sonora and Sinaloa states of Mexico. We present the deformation field in the Gulf of California using GPS data observed between 2010 and 2015 and processed using the GAMIT/GLOBK software. The GPS stations used belong to the different networks namely SOPAC, CORS and the Mexican National red (Red Geodésica Activa de Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía). A preliminary analysis of the deformation field will be related to the seismic events in the studied area

Andrade, R.

Ferhat, G.

Moraila-Valenzuela, Carlos,

Van Der Woerd, Jérôme

English

Moraila-Valenzuela, Carlos, Ramon

van Der Woerd, Jérôme

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Monitoring of tectonic deformation in the Gulf of California (Mexico) using GPS measurements

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Monitoring of tectonic deformation in the Gulf of
California (Mexico) using GPS measurements
Carlos Moraila-Valenzuela, R. Andrade, G. Ferhat, Jérôme van der Woerd
To cite this version:
Carlos Moraila-Valenzuela, R. Andrade, G. Ferhat, Jérôme van der Woerd. Monitoring of tectonic
deformation in the Gulf of California (Mexico) using GPS measurements. 3rd Joint International
Symposium on Deformation Monitoring (JISDM), Mar 2016, Vienne, Austria. ￿hal-01852187￿
 
Monitoring of tectonic deformation in the Gulf of 
California (Mexico) using GPS measurements 
C. R. Moraila-Valenzuela, R. R. Andrade 
Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra y el Espacio, Univers dad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Prolongación Josefa 
Ortiz de Domínguez S/N, Cd Universitaria, 80040 Culiacán Rosales, Sinalao, Mexico 
G. Ferhat, J. Van der Woerd 
Institute of Earth Physics, CNRS UMR 7516, University of Strasbourg / EOST, 5 rue René Descartes, 
67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France 
 
 
Abstract. The Gulf of California, Mexico, was 
formed by the separation of the peninsular Baja 
California from North America between 12 and 6 
Ma. Its transtensional fault system is composed of 
an en échelon array of long right-lateral transform 
fault segments that alternate with short extensional 
basins and spreading ridges. This tectonic setting 
provides a unique opportunity to study deformation 
associated with the transition of a continental 
strike-slip fault (the San Andreas Fault) to seafloor 
spreading (East Pacific Rise) along a rapidly 
moving fault system. The studied area is composed 
of the peninsular Baja California and the 
continental area of the Sonora and Sinaloa states of 
Mexico. We present the deformation field in the 
Gulf of California using GPS data observed 
between 2010 and 2015 and processed using the 
GAMIT/GLOBK software. The GPS stations used 
belong to the different networks namely SOPAC, 
CORS and the Mexican National red (Red 
Geodésica Activa de Instituto Nacional de 
Estadística y Geografía). A preliminary analysis of 
the deformation field will be related to the seismic 
events in the studied area. 
 
Keywords. Baja California, GPS, tectonics 
 
1  Introduction 
 
The area of our investigation is the Gulf of 
California, extending 1400 km approx. from the 
fast spreading mid-oceanic ridge system of the East
Pacific Rise to San Andreas Transform Fault. The 
continental rift is extensively exposed in the 
conjugate margin present in the Mexican states of 
Sonora and Sinaloa, where there is a zone of active 
basin-and-range type extension. Crustal 
deformation within the Gulf itself ranges from ridge 
transform structures in the south to minimal 
deformation in the north. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 1 Volcanic and tectonic setting of Mexico. Circles show 
locations of Quaternary volcanic eruptions. BC, Bay of 
Campeche; CA, Caribbean plate; IT, Isthmus of Tehuantepec; 
MAT, Middle America trench; MR, Mexican Ridges; MF, 
Motagua fault; MVB, Mexican Volcanic Belt; YB, Yucatan 
basin; YP, Yucatan Peninsula. (after Marquez-Azua and 
DeMets, 2003). 
GPS technology provides a method to study the 
kinematics of crustal deformation of the Earth on an 
unprecedented scale and precision allowing to 
identify tectonically active faults an evaluate 
velocity of displacement. 
The country of Mexico exhibits remarkable 
tectonic settings. Mexico incorporates parts of the 
Pacific, North American, and Caribbean plates 
(Figures 1 and 2) and accommodates northeastward 
subduction of the Rivera and Cocos plates beneath a 
1500-km-long stretch of its Pacific coast. 
 
 
 
 
2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 2 Earthquakes of at least M6.0 in Mexico since 1900 
(USGS report) 
In addition, the country is bisected by the 
Mexican Volcanic Belt, which extends east-
southeastward across Mexico for more than 1000 
km above the 80–100 km depth contour of the 
subducting Rivera and Cocos plates (Pardo and 
Suarez, 1995).  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 3 Tectonic setting of the Gulf of California (after Zhang 
et Paulssen, 2012); SAF: San Andreas fault; EPR: East
Pacific rise. 
Earthquakes associated with the faults that 
separate these five tectonic plates, as well as 
earthquakes and volcanism within the volcanic belt 
constitute significant natural hazards to much of 
central and southern Mexico. The Gulf of California 
presents a moderate seismic hazard (Figure 2) 
whereas a M7.2 occurred in 2010. 
 
3  Previous GPS monitoring in Mexico 
and Baja California 
 
Marquez-Azua and DeMets (2003) combine 
velocities for 14 continuous GPS stations spanning 
Mexico and 173 additional continuous GPS sites on 
the North American and Pacific plates to study the 
large-scale deformation of Mexico on the period 
1993 to June 2001.  
These station velocities, which are derived from 
more than 6000 days of previously unused GPS 
data, provide the first view of the crustal velocity 
field of Mexico. Their key results are as follows: (1)
Areas north of the Mexican Volcanic Belt, not 
including Baja California, move with the North 
American plate interior within the 1–2 mm/yr 
station velocity uncertainties. Station velocities for
the Mexican Basin and Range are consistent with no 
present-day extension and yield an upper 95% limit 
of 1–3 mm/yr for any regional extension. (2) South 
of the Mexican Volcanic Belt, five of the six sites 
move significantly relative to the North American 
plate. All sites in the Yucatan Peninsula move 
toward the east at 3–4 mm/yr, possibly defining an 
independent Yucatan block. (3) Site velocities are 
consistent with limits of 0–4 mm/yr for present slip 
across the Mexican Volcanic Belt. (4) Tampico, on 
the gulf coast, exhibits eastward motion consistent 
with gravity sliding known to occur in the adjacent 
Mexican Ridges fold belt. (5) Southeastward motion 
of La Paz relative to the Pacific plate is consistent 
with the hypothesis that the Baja Peninsula is not 
fully attached to the Pacific plate. (6) Residual 
velocities for 160 North American plate GPS 
stations outside of Mexico exhibit no coherent 
regional patterns indicative of internal plate 
deformation. 
Plattner et al. (2007) compute poles of rotation for 
the Pacific Plate and the Baja California 
microplates. For the Pacific plate, Plattner et al. 
(2007) use only continuous GPS (CGPS) with time-
series longer than 3 years, giving time-series 
durations from 3 to 10 years. 
 
 
 
 
 
3
Plattner et al. (2007) use also 32 episodic GPS 
(EGPS) measurements at sites in Baja California. 
These EGPS data vary from sites with at least three 
occupation episodes of two and more 24 hour days 
and a minimum total time span of 6 years since 
1993.  
Plattner et al. (2007) show that about ~90% of the 
full North America-Pacific plate relative motion 
rate (approximately 43–47mm/yr) is accommodated 
along the Gulf of California. 
 
 
3  GPS network analyzed 
 
Several permanent GPS stations exist in the studied 
area.  The SOPAC network of continuous GPS sites 
exists throughout the field area, but CORS network 
and GPS sites operated for INEGI (Mexico), are 
concentred in Sonora, Sinaloa, Colima and Baja 
California states. We delimit our study region as 
described above to complement survey networks 
operated by other Institutions (USGS Geological 
Survey, TLALOC network, Universidad Autónoma 
de Mexico).  
 
4  GPS Data processing 
 
We analyze the data using the GAMIT software 
(King and Bock 2010) with standard procedures 
(Feigl et al. 1993). For each signal, the linear 
combination (LC) that removes first-order 
ionospheric phase delays is formed from the two 
GPS frequencies (Bock et al 1986).  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 4 Selection of 12 permanent GPS stations in Mexico and 
United States of America 
Double difference LC phase residuals are inspected 
manually for cycle slips in the phase data, although 
virtually all cycle slips can be detected and 
corrected by automatic algorithms.  
The GPS data are grouped as daily network 
solutions, with about 6 to 12 stations in each 
solution, holding fixed the coordinates of the IGS 
stations and the satellite ephemerides calculated at 
the IGS.  
 
4  Preliminary results  
 
We use the tsview is a Matlab script for plotting and 
editing time series. With tsview display the 3 
components of site position, along with a list time 
series, and analyze time series of positions (Herring, 
2003).  
The La Paz station (LPAZ in Figure 3) shows a co-
seismic in relation to the Mayor-Cucapah 
earthquake (in April 2010 M7.2), south of the U.S.-
Mexico border.  
 
5  Conclusion 
 
In order to monitor the tectonic deformation of the 
Gulf of California, we use GPS measurements over 
a short period 2010-2015. Further processing of 
long period of GPS measurements will be 
performed. Moreover, episodic GPS campaigns 
should be planned in the states of Baja California, 
Sonora and Sinaloa (Mexico). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fig. 3 Example of time series of positions at LPAZ as shown 
by the tsview program. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
4
References 
 
Bock, Y., S.A. Gourevitch, C.C.C. III, R.W. King, R.I. 
Abbott (1986). Interferometric analysis of GPS phase 
observations, Man. Geod. 11, 282–288. 
Feigl, K.L. D.C. Agnew, Y. Bock, D. Dong, A. Donnellan, 
R.W. King, B.H. Hager, T.A. Herring, D.D. Jackson, T.H. 
Jordan, S. Larsen, K.M. Larson, M.H. Murray, Z. Shen, 
F.H. Webb (1993). Space geodetic measurement of crustal 
deformation in central and southern California, 1984–
1992, J. Geophys. Res., 98, pp. 21677–21712 
Herring, T. (2003). MATLAB Tools for viewing GPS 
velocities and time series. GPS Solutions, Volume 7, 
Number 3, 2003, pp 194-199.  
King, W. and, Y., Bock (2010). Documentation for theMIT 
GPS Analysis Software, GAMIT, Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology, Cambridge. 
Marquez-Azua, B., and, C., DeMets (2003). Crustal velocity 
field of Mexico from continuous GPS measurements, 
1993 to June 2001: Implications for the neotectonics of 
Mexico, J. Geophys. Res. 108(B9), 2450, 
doi:10.1029/2002JB002241. 
Pardo, M., and G., Suarez (1995). Shape of the subducted 
Rivera and Cocos plates in southern Mexico: Seismic and 
tectonic implications, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 12,357– 
12,374. 
Plattner C., Malservisi R., Dixon T.H., LaFemina P., Sella 
G., Fletcher F.J., Suarez-Vidal F. New constraints on 
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J. Geophys. Int. 2007;170:1373-1380 
Zhang, X., and H., Paulssen (2012). Geodynamics of the 
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Monitoring of tectonic deformation in the Gulf of California (Mexico) using GPS measurements

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