PBO Facility Construction: Basin and Range and Rocky Mountain Regions Status

The Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), part of the larger NSF-funded EarthScope project, will study the three- dimensional strain field resulting from active plate boundary deformation across the Western United States. PBO is a large construction project involving the reconnaissance, permitting, installation, documentation, and maintenance of 852 permanent GPS stations in five years. 163 of these stations lie within the Basin and Range and Rocky Mountain Regions consisting of the states of Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. During the third year of the project, the Basin and Range and Rocky Mountain regions of PBO accelerated production goals in reconnaissance, permitting, and installation activities. The summer of 2006 saw the completion of nearly all of the reconnaissance field work for the regions, with permits submitted to landholders for 88% of the total number of stations. A major milestone in the permitting phase of the construction project was the approval of 33 GPS stations located on Bureau of Land Management controlled public lands in Nevada. This transect is located along Highway 50 and will profile the extension of the Basin and Range province. Construction of these stations will be conducted throughout the fall of 2006. The focus for construction efforts in year 3 was in the state of Montana, where many of the backbone and Yellowstone cluster stations were completed. To date, construction is complete for 80 of 163 GPS stations.