An InSAR-derived Statewide Deformation Map for New Mexico, USA
Abstract
Processes driving measurable deformation at the surface of the Earth range from broad scale tectonics, regional magma or aquifer dynamics, to very local mining or hydrocarbon production activities. Using ground based methods alone, it is difficult to discover regional and small scale deformation processes, and establish an understanding of their spatial scale and evolution, distribution, and interactions. The recent advent of rapid repeat Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observations through the Sentinel-1 mission since 2014, paired with advances in interferometric SAR (InSAR) time series techniques, opens the possibility to generate large-scale deformation maps based on long-term InSAR analyses.
The state of New Mexico and surrounding arid regions in the southwest U.S., an area over 320,000 km 2 , are subject to several processes that deform the surface measurable with InSAR. Aquifers are heavily stressed by agricultural activities during the growing seasons and provide the dominant domestic water supply. Several industries, particularly in the northwest and southeast of the state, produce surface and subsurface resources, e.g. mining and oil and gas activities. The Socorro Magma Body, a 19-km deep, inflating magma lens, is known to cause observable surface deformation. We construct a multiyear statewide deformation map for New Mexico based on Sentinel-1 SAR data provided by the European Space Agency. We use GMT5SAR software to process SAR images retrieved via the Alaska Satellite Facility and perform image stacking and short baseline time series analyses to find long term deformation signals. We present statewide coherence analyses to help assess solution quality and identify regions/periods of substantial land surface change. In addition to known signals, our results identify thus far undetected, spatially varied, local deformation related to oil and gas activity, surface mining, subsurface dissolution, and aquifer dynamics. Large scale observations of surface deformation can detect unknown deformation processes and provide a better understanding of the evolution and interactions of natural and anthropogenic processes. This can guide resource development and potentially detect developing hazards such as sinkholes or leaking reinjection wells that may pollute groundwater.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMT012.0010G
- Keywords:
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- 1244 Standards and absolute measurements;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 1299 General or miscellaneous;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY