A model of recent vertical movements of earth’s surface of the territory of Lithuania

Abstract

The precise geodetic levelling reveals the recent activity of the vertical movements of the earth’s crust. However, the main shortcoming of the levelling networks is a scarceness of the measurement tracks that can not be compensated by high density of the levelling sites within the tracks. The pattern and trends of vertical movements between the measured lines remains unknown. A special approach has been developed in order to allow the prediction of the vertical movements within the polygons. It is based on the multicomponent statistical correlation of the levelling data with the significant geological parameters. The correlations between different parameters were derived separately for each particular polygon and than combined in one common model. It allowed compilation of a rather detailed map of the recent vertical movements of Lithuania during the past 30-40 years. The rate of the vertical movements of the earth’s surface obtained from the geodetic levelling varies from -2.7 mm to 3.5 mm/y. A close correlation suggests that the heterogeneity of the crust is important for the distribution of the vertical movements. The application of the close correlation with geoparameters allowed considerable improvement of the map of the vertical movements of Lithuania.