Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis
Land subsidence in densely urbanized areas is a global problem that is primarily caused by excessive groundwater withdrawal. The Kathmandu Basin is one such area where subsidence due to groundwater depletion has been a major problem in recent years. Moreover, on 25 April 2015, this basin experienced...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018-07-01
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| Series: | GIScience & Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2017.1422312 |
| _version_ | 1797679123036897280 |
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| author | Suresh Krishnan P.V. Duk-jin Kim Jungkyo Jung |
| author_facet | Suresh Krishnan P.V. Duk-jin Kim Jungkyo Jung |
| author_sort | Suresh Krishnan P.V. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Land subsidence in densely urbanized areas is a global problem that is primarily caused by excessive groundwater withdrawal. The Kathmandu Basin is one such area where subsidence due to groundwater depletion has been a major problem in recent years. Moreover, on 25 April 2015, this basin experienced large crustal movements caused by the Gorkha earthquake (Mw 7.8). Consequently, the effects of earthquake-induced deformation could affect the temporal and spatial nature of anthropogenic subsidence in the basin. However, this effect has not yet been fully studied. In this paper, we applied the SBAS-DInSAR technique to estimate the spatiotemporal displacement of land subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin before and after the Gorkha earthquake, using 16 ALOS-1 Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) images during the pre-seismic period and 26 Sentinel-1 A/B SAR images during the pre- and post-seismic periods. The results showed that the mean subsidence rate in the central part of the basin was about −8.2 cm/year before the earthquake. The spatial extents of the subsiding areas were well-correlated with the spatial distributions of the compressible clay layers in the basin. We infer from time-series InSAR analysis that subsidence in the Kathmandu basin could be associated with fluvio-lacustrine (clay) deposits and local hydrogeological conditions. However, after the mainshock, the subsidence rate significantly increased to −15 and −12 cm/year during early post-seismic (108 days) and post-seismic (2015–2016) period, respectively. Based on a spatial analysis of the subsidence rate map, the entire basin uplifted during the co-seismic period has started to subside and become stable during the early-post-seismic period. This is because of the elastic rebound of co-seismic deformation. However, interestingly, the localized areas show increased subsidence rates during both the early-post- and post-seismic periods. Therefore, we believe that the large co-seismic deformation experienced in this basin might induce the local subsidence to increase in rate, caused by oscillations of the water table level in the clay layer. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:09:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d32abd283f1d40d59b9591c3baeae25d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1548-1603 1943-7226 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:09:49Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
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| series | GIScience & Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-d32abd283f1d40d59b9591c3baeae25d2023-09-21T12:34:14ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGIScience & Remote Sensing1548-16031943-72262018-07-0155460462110.1080/15481603.2017.14223121422312Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR AnalysisSuresh Krishnan P.V.0Duk-jin Kim1Jungkyo Jung2Seoul National UniversitySeoul National UniversitySeoul National UniversityLand subsidence in densely urbanized areas is a global problem that is primarily caused by excessive groundwater withdrawal. The Kathmandu Basin is one such area where subsidence due to groundwater depletion has been a major problem in recent years. Moreover, on 25 April 2015, this basin experienced large crustal movements caused by the Gorkha earthquake (Mw 7.8). Consequently, the effects of earthquake-induced deformation could affect the temporal and spatial nature of anthropogenic subsidence in the basin. However, this effect has not yet been fully studied. In this paper, we applied the SBAS-DInSAR technique to estimate the spatiotemporal displacement of land subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin before and after the Gorkha earthquake, using 16 ALOS-1 Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) images during the pre-seismic period and 26 Sentinel-1 A/B SAR images during the pre- and post-seismic periods. The results showed that the mean subsidence rate in the central part of the basin was about −8.2 cm/year before the earthquake. The spatial extents of the subsiding areas were well-correlated with the spatial distributions of the compressible clay layers in the basin. We infer from time-series InSAR analysis that subsidence in the Kathmandu basin could be associated with fluvio-lacustrine (clay) deposits and local hydrogeological conditions. However, after the mainshock, the subsidence rate significantly increased to −15 and −12 cm/year during early post-seismic (108 days) and post-seismic (2015–2016) period, respectively. Based on a spatial analysis of the subsidence rate map, the entire basin uplifted during the co-seismic period has started to subside and become stable during the early-post-seismic period. This is because of the elastic rebound of co-seismic deformation. However, interestingly, the localized areas show increased subsidence rates during both the early-post- and post-seismic periods. Therefore, we believe that the large co-seismic deformation experienced in this basin might induce the local subsidence to increase in rate, caused by oscillations of the water table level in the clay layer.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2017.1422312kathmandu basinsubsidencegroundwater2015 gorkha earthquakesbas-dinsarchange in subsidence rate |
| spellingShingle | Suresh Krishnan P.V. Duk-jin Kim Jungkyo Jung Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis GIScience & Remote Sensing kathmandu basin subsidence groundwater 2015 gorkha earthquake sbas-dinsar change in subsidence rate |
| title | Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis |
| title_full | Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis |
| title_fullStr | Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis |
| title_short | Subsidence in the Kathmandu Basin, before and after the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal Revealed from Small Baseline Subset-DInSAR Analysis |
| title_sort | subsidence in the kathmandu basin before and after the 2015 mw 7 8 gorkha earthquake nepal revealed from small baseline subset dinsar analysis |
| topic | kathmandu basin subsidence groundwater 2015 gorkha earthquake sbas-dinsar change in subsidence rate |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15481603.2017.1422312 |
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