Rio Grande Rift Crustal Deformation Measurements Using GPS
an NSF-Earthscope Project

The goal of this project is to kinematically image extension in the Rio Grande Rift in order to address the following question: What controls extension within "narrow" continental rifts and how is it related to lithospheric heterogeneity?

Additional questions addressed by this research include: Is deformation steady or episodic? Do the observed Quaternary faults and geodetic strain rates agree? How is strain spatially accommodated? Is the Rio Grande Rift widening and propagating northward? What is the mantle rheology, and how is the style of deformation influenced by strain rate? How does the potential rift propagation manifest itself in the Neogene rotation of the Colorado Plateau?

Collaborators and Students

UNM
Mousumi Roy

Kristen Mullen
Matt Nyman

Emily Jones

CU Boulder
Anne Sheehan
Tony Lowry
Steve Nerem
Susan Buhr

Mark McCaffrey

With the help of UNAVCO, we are installing a network of 24 GPS stations across the Rio Grande Rift in Colorado and new Mexico.  A few stations are already permitted and other station locations are currently being finalized and we are requesting input  from the community for stations in Colorado  (CO station map)  and in New Mexico (see map below).  Our stations will form a dense cluster within the larger network of GPS stations being installed across the western US as part of the Earthscope-PBO effort.

We are also building a program of education and outreach, including workshops for K-12 science teachers, community presentations, involvement of middle schools near our stations, etc.  Watch these pages for education and outreach events in Colorado and New Mexico:

link to Education and Outreach Events in CO

Education and Outreach Events in NM:
  1.  EarthScope Science teachers workshop, April 1, 2006, at Northrop Hall, UNM -- co-sponsored by EarthScope and SEIS (Science Education Institute of the Southwest); contact Matt Nyman for details

UNM Campus News Article, Nov 7, 2005



Rio Grande Rift GPS: New Mexico
Geology, Active Faults, and GPS Station Locations

This map shows the current status of stations in New Mexico:


Blue   = reconned, permitting process may have been started for some of these
Cyan = permitted
Pink = no action
Green Cross = PBO, built
Purple Squares = CORS, existing

nm network jun 06  Southern Line station 8 station 7 station 6 station 5 Central Line station 4 station 3 station 2 station 1 Northern Line station 13 station 12 station 11 station 10 station 9

 

This site is maintained by Mousumi Roy
at the University of New Mexico

modified -- 6/15/06

nsf logoThis material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number 0454541. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.