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Correlation between changes in groundwater levels and surface deformation from GPS measurements in the San Gabriel Valley, California
Author(s) -
Ji Kang Hyeun,
Herring Thomas A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl050195
Subject(s) - groundwater , geology , volcano , surface water , water level , period (music) , hydrology (agriculture) , correlation coefficient , water well , geodesy , seismology , geomorphology , environmental science , geotechnical engineering , geography , environmental engineering , statistics , physics , cartography , mathematics , acoustics
Changes in groundwater levels cause water‐bearing basins to deform. Here we provide a detailed history of horizontal surface displacements in the San Gabriel Valley, California, which we show are highly correlated with the water level changes measured at a nearby well: correlation coefficient of 0.96 ± 0.01. We use the surface response from a one year period during which water level change in the nearby well was over 16 m, to monitor the deformations over a 14 year period from 1998 to 2011. The water level changes lead surface deformation by 21 days, but the significance of the offset is only weakly supported (p‐value = 0.129). The projection method can be used as a real‐time monitoring or detection system for deformation caused by a variety of mechanisms such as fluid injection and removal (groundwater development, oil production, carbon sequestration), and by seismic and volcanic activity.