GNSS imaging of time-dependent variable deformation in a Chilean subduction zone

Using data from a large continuous GNSS network, composed of more than 130 stations located in continental Chile, we detected time-dependent deformation. We concentrate on removing the seasonal variations and recovering the interseismic, postseismic, and coseismic deformation. This enables us to model and estimate the locking rate, stress accumulation, and slip deficiency, in a short and long term approach. The inversion procedure to obtain the locking rate from the interseismic velocities makes a strong simplification: the medium is an elastic homogeneous half-space (e.g. Okada, 1985). The slip rate is restricted between zero up to the plate convergence velocity. Hence, besides this restriction, this inversion is the same as a coseismic slip inversion. The resulting from this study will improve our understanding of the seismic cycle in the Andean subduction environment.