Velocity field of around the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan regions determined from a new continuous GPS network data

Abstract

To investigate the current crustal movements in and around the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan regions, we have established a continuous GPS network. By the end of 1997, the network had been expanded to include 12 new stations. Data for the period from July 1995 to November 1997 were analyzed together with data from International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS) global stations. To fix the estimated coordinates to the terrestrial reference frame, the Tsukuba IGS station was assumed to be moving westward relative to the stable Eurasian continent at ~2cm/yr according to Heki's[1996] estimate. We find that: (1) stations in the western margin of the Sea of Japan have eastward velocity vectors, (2) the pole position of the Okhotsk plate is located near Okha, which reconfirms the Okhotsk micro plate, (3) a plate boundary of the Okhotsk and Amurian plates between southen Sakhalin and Hokkaido is suggested.