Interseismic Strain Accumulation in the Imperial Valley and Implications for Triggering of Large Earthquakes in Southern California

From February, 2008 to March, 2009, we performed three rapid-static Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys of 115 geodetic monuments stretching from the United States-Mexico border into the Coachella Valley using the method of instantaneous positioning. The monuments are located in key areas near the Imperial, Superstition Hills, San Jacinto, San Andreas and Brawley Faults with nominal baselines generally less than 10 km. We perform a bicubic spline interpolation on the crustal motion vectors from the campaign measurements and 1005 continuous GPS monuments in western North America and solve for the velocity gradient tensor to look at the maximum shear strain, dilatation and rotation rates in the Imperial Valley. We then compare our computed strain field to that computed using the Southern California Earthquake Center Crustal Motion Map 3.0, which extends through 2003 and includes 840 measurements. We show that there is an interseismic strain transient that corresponds to an increase in the maximum shear strain rate of 0.7 μstrain/yr near Obsidian Buttes since 2003 along a fault referred to as the Obsidian Buttes Fault (OBF). A strong subsidence signal of 27 mm/yr and a left-lateral increase of 10 mm/yr are centered along the OBF. Changes in the dilatation and rotation rates confirm the increase in left-lateral motion, as well as infer a strong increase in spreading rate in the southern Salton Sea. The increase in spreading rate has caused an accelerated slip rate along the southern San Andreas near Durmid Hill as evidenced by continuous GPS, which has the potential for earthquake triggering.