Block model of western US kinematics from inversion of geodetic, fault slip, and earthquake data

The active deformation of the southwestern US (30° to 41° N) is represented by a finite number of rotating, elastic spherical caps. Horizontal GPS velocities (1583), fault slip rates (94), and earthquake slip vectors (116) are inverted for block angular velocities, locking on block-bounding faults, and the rotation of individual GPS velocity fields relative to North America. GPS velocities are modeled as a combination of rigid block rotations and elastic strain rates resulting from interactions of adjacent blocks across bounding faults. The resulting Pacific - North America pole is indistinguishable from that of Beavan et al. (2001) and satisfies spreading in the Gulf of California and earthquake slip vectors in addition to GPS. The largest blocks, the Sierra Nevada - Great Valley and the eastern Basin and Range, show internal strain rates, after removing the elastic component, of only a few nanostrain/a, demonstrating long term approximately rigid behavior. Most fault slip data are satisfied except that the San Jacinto fault appears to be significantly faster than inferred from geology while the Coachella and San Bernardino segments of the San Andreas fault are slower, suggesting the San Andreas system is straightening out in Southern California. Vertical axis rotation rates for most blocks are clockwise and in magnitude more like the Pacific than North America. One exception is the eastern Basin and Range (242° E to 248° E) which rotates slowly anticlockwise about a pole offshore Baja.