Establishment of the GPS Monitoring Network in North China, the Relation of Horizontal Crustal Movement to Stress Field and Seismicity

In the paper, the establishment, measurement, data-processing program and monitoring accuracy of the GPS seismic monitoring network in North China, especially in the Capital-Circle area, have been presented briefly. The relation of horizontal crustal deformation to tectonic movement, stress-field variation and seismicity has been analyzed in detail. The results indicate that the accuracy of GPS measurement has reached the order of 10-9 and the annual rate of horizontal crustal deformation in North China is about 4 ~5 mm. Horizontal crustal movement is a direct indication of the regional stress field. Therefore, by monitoring the time-sequence variation of horizontal crustal motion, it would be possible to investigate the change in the stress field, to analyze the tendency of seismicity and to determine the seismogenic zones.