Deformation analysis of the Lake Urmia causeway (LUC) embankments in northwest Iran: insights from multi-sensor interferometry synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data and finite element modeling (FEM)

This paper presents deformation analysis of Lake Urmia causeway (LUC) embankments in northwest Iran using observations from interferometry synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and finite element model (FEM) simulation. 58 SAR images including 10 ALOS, 30 Envisat and 18 TerraSAR-X are used to assess settlement of the embankments during 2003–2013. The interferometric dataset includes 140 differential interferograms which are processed using InSAR time series technique of small baseline subset approach. The results show a clear indication of large deformation on the embankments with peak amplitude of \(>\) 50 mm/year in 2003–2010, increasing to \(>\!\!80\)  mm/year in 2012–2013 in the line of sight (LOS) direction from ground to the satellite. 2D decomposition of InSAR observations from Envisat and ALOS satellites that overlap in the years 2007–2010 shows that the rate of the vertical settlement and horizontal motion is not uniform along the embankments; Both eastern and western embankments show significant vertical motion, while horizontal motion plays a more significant role in eastern embankment than western embankment. The InSAR results are then used to simulate deformation using FEM at two cross-sections at the distance of 4 and 9 km from the most western edge of the LUC for which detailed stratigraphy data are available. Results suggest that consolidation due to dissipation of excess pore pressure in embankments can satisfactory predict settlement of the LUC embankments. Our numerical modeling indicates that nearly half of the consolidation since the construction time of the causeway 30 years ago has been done.