Recent earth's crust deformations of Lithuania derived from geodetic measurements

Abstract

Analysis of campaign GPS observations of 1993 and 2007 (week 702 to 1433) at 45 stations, regularly spaced throughout Lithuania, suggests that the area is composed of several major tectonic blocks that show differentiated horizontal movements. The GPS sites show a general shift to the north-west and west-east at an average rate of 3 mm yr-1 in a reference ETRF2000 frame as a conventional frame of the ETRS89 system. The strain rate varies from -5.7×10-8 y-1 to 8.2×10-8 y-1 with an average scalar value 2.5×10-8 y-1 that is compatible to other cratonic regions. The deformations of the earth’s crust detected by geodetic measurements correlate with major fault zones.