Structure of the present-day velocity field of the crust in the area of the Central-Asian GPS network

The structure of the vector field of present-day horizontal velocities on the Earth’s surface is investigated with the use of the territory covered by the Central-Asian GPS network as an example. A method of identification of groups of GPS points (statistically rigid clusters), for which the rate of change in distances between them is virtually zero, is proposed and realized. Sites of the Earth’s surface (regions) containing such groups of GPS points, within the required measurement accuracy, move in the horizontal plane as two-dimensional rigid bodies. The clustering algorithm, which is based on the Student t statistics in determining the so-called statistical “sample cost,” is developed and carefully tested. The results of identification of regions take into account possible random errors in velocity measurements and do not depend on the chosen frame of reference. The method of identification of regions is sufficiently stable with respect to variations in the number of GPS sites used for clustering. Of all the sites of the Central-Asian GPS network, 323 points were selected for clustering. These sites were measured from 3 to 11 times over an 11-year interval of observations (1995–2005). The estimates of errors of velocity measurement for these sites must not exceed 1.0 mm/yr. As a result, 29 statistically rigid clusters, containing from 3 to 17 GPS sites, were identified, and the kinematic regimes of motion of regions corresponding to these clusters were determined with respect to the stable part of Eurasia. With the general direction of the translatory motion of regions toward the north, the majority of them rotate counterclockwise. Nearly one third of GPS sites do not participate in the formation of clusters; these points fall into the interregional space (IRS), which is characterized by increased strain rates. The IRS structure is partitioned into zones with four directions, of which two directions virtually coincide with directions of the principal axes of the regional strain rate tensor, and the two other directions are oriented diagonally to the principal axes. The axis of the maximum rate of the regional shortening has a north-northwestern orientation. It is in this direction (mainly along the IRS) that the crust’s contraction takes place. There is no spatial correlation between IRS zones and geological faults; however, their angular distributions and the directions of strike-slips on them are interrelated. The resulting patterns of regional motions and IRS deformations consistently reflect the dynamic action of the Indian plate on the territory under investigation.