Geodetic Inversions and Applications in Geodynamics

: The primary observables of the Global Positioning System (GPS) ground tracking sites for geodynamics are the Earth’s surface motions, and their geophysical interpretation is based on the numerical models of various tectonic processes. The key issues for geophysical interpretation of the GPS observations are adequate mechanical models of brittle and ductile rock behaviour used to predict surface motions related to various tectonic processes, and the corresponding inversion techniques which allow separation of the processes, and evaluation of their parameters. For large-scale heterogeneous processes, the inversion of the GPS observations requires regularisation because it implies evaluation of some complicated distributed underground motions from their discrete manifestation at the surface. One of the fastest growing applications of the satellite geodetic observations is investigation of the seismotectonic deformation associated with great earthquakes worldwide at all stages of the seismic cycle – inter-seismic, co-seismic, post-seismic. The inversion techniques based on dislocation models in elastic or viscoelastic medium is one of the approaches that may be widely used for GPS-based studies of various seismotectonic deformations.