Horizontal deformation in South Korea from permanent GPS network data, 2000–2003

Abstract

Abstract Analysis of continuous GPS data 2000–2003 at 50 stations of the Korean GPS Network (KGN) suggests that the southern part of the Korean peninsula is tectonically more stable than other regions in the Eastern Asia. The average velocity was ∼1.5 mm/yr and the average overall strain rate was around −0.3 × 10−9str/yr. The obtained velocity field indicates the presence of anticlockwise rotation of the whole region with respect to Daejeon station (DAEJ), in the central part of South Korea. It also showed that KM-OB (Kyonggi Massif and the Okchon Basin) and YM-TB (Yeongnam Massif and Taebaeksan Basin) have left-lateral shearing movements. Both movements were confirmed by the deformation analysis of the KGN horizontal velocity field using the infinitesimal plate theory. The results show that South Korea moves toward the WNW direction with a velocity of 0.9 mm/yr with a slow anticlockwise rotation. The strain field in South Korea indicates the existence of both compression and tension. The compression and extension axes have WSW-EWE and NNW-SSE directions, respectively.