Towards a high resolution inventory of anthropogenic deformation in North America using InSAR

Abstract:

Anthropogenic surface deformation is important to measure for several reasons -- 1) it could be a hazard to infrastructure; 2) it could contaminate precise measurements of other types of deformation (e.g., magmatic or tectonic); and 3) the deformation can provide otherwise inaccessible information about the subsurface as we measure the Earth's response to known pumping, surface change, or mining activity. While there are studies at individual sites in North America that demonstrate these three types of studies, we lack a continental synoptic view of anthropogenic deformation and its significance. To fill this gap, we use satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data to image ground deformation across the continent with a spatial resolution of 1 km/pixel or better using results from the literature as well as new analysis of more than 5000 interferograms from the ERS, Envisat, and ALOS satellites, which collectively span 1992-2011. Our compilation is not complete in terms of spatially or temporal coverage nor is it uniform in quality over the region -- certainly we have missed some areas of deformation. Most of the data analyzed is in the western US, but ALOS observations east of the Rocky Mountains are of good quality even in vegetated and snowy areas and we document mining subsidence greater than several cm per year in NY, PA, and WV. We catalog more than 200 anthropogenic deformation signals, including about 45 that are not previously reported. The majority of these deformation sources can be attributed to groundwater extraction (66%), 8% to geothermal activity, 13% to hydrocarbon extraction, 11% to mining activity, and 2% to other sources such as lake loading. In a few areas, the source of deformation is not yet determined. As expected, most deformation is time dependent and so continuous monitoring is needed. In some areas, comparisonbetween pumping records and surface deformation reveals some suprises. For example, at the East Mesa Geothermal Field in California, we find an area that changes from subsidence to uplift around 2006 even though pumping and injection appear not to have changed during that time. Future InSAR satellite missions should make routine observations over the entire continent to develop a more complete understanding of anthropogenic deformation in North America.