Horizontal crustal motion estimates for the UK inferred from GPS: Preliminary results

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary estimates of horizontal crustal motion inferred from a GPS network in the UK. The British Isles are on the western part of the Eurasian plate and the effects of active tectonism are expected to be small. However, the British Isles are believed to undergo non-rigid plate behaviour due to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) occurring in northern Britain. Non-rigid plate behaviour can generally be shown to cause velocity biases when compared to velocities derived from models such as NNRNUVEL- 1A, which are based upon assumed rigid plate behaviour. As a first assessment, in this paper, horizontal station velocities obtained from the GPS analysis are compared to the ITRF2000 angular velocity of rigid Eurasia.