Fault-creep or Strain-accumulation on Flat Surfaces of Decollement? A GPS Study on the Salt Range and Potwar Plateau of Pakistan

巴基斯坦的Potwar高原是一个5-10公里厚的岩石组合，年龄都小于4.5亿年，这些岩石在构造力的作用下以每年约10毫米的速度在富盐滑脱层上向南移动。 这些调查旨在确定地震蠕变是否是这个150公里x150公里省份平移过程的重要组成部分，或者高原是否部分或完全锁定，并在地震期间滑动。 全球定位系统（GPS）的方法被用来检查变形过程，无论是作为1850年安装的殖民三角点的位移，并作为新安装的大地测量标记的年度运动。如果高原目前被锁定，它将对该地区的地震灾害产生重要影响。如果它迅速蠕动，这将对高原的构造形成和变形产生重要影响，高原是一个充满石油储藏的地区。 Potwar高原是地球历史上众多地质滑脱层的代表，其目前的运动学行为可以限制其内部发生的变形类型。

The Potwar Plateau in Pakistan is a 5-10 km thick assemblage of rocks all younger than 450 million years that are being driven southward over a salt-rich decollement by tectonic forces at approximately 10 mm/year. The investigations are seeking to establish whether aseismic creep is a significant component of the translation process of this 150 km x150 km province, or whether the Plateau is locked, partly or completely, and slips during earthquakes. Global Positioning (GPS) methods are used to examine the deformation process, both as displacements of colonial trigonometrical points installed in 1850, and as annual motions of newly installed geodetic markers. If the Plateau is currently locked it will have important consequences for earthquake hazards in the region. If it is creeping rapidly this will have important implications for the structural formation and deformation of the Plateau, a region steeped with oil reservoirs. The Potwar Plateau is representative of numerous geologic decollements documented in earth's history, and its present kinematic behavior can place bounds on the types of deformation that have occurred within them.