Corné Kreemer's Research Page

Click here for a PDF version of my CV.

"I am mostly interested in using geodetic techniques to quantify how and how fast the Earth's crust deforms and, ultimately, to use that information in order to understand what drives the deformation. I work on these questions on global and regional scales. When doing so, all sorts of interesting questions arise:

  • How does the geodetically inferred deformation relate to seismic deformation and the seismic cycle?
  • When we know how the crust deforms on the surface, how does that relate to what happens in the lower crust or within the lithosphere as a whole?
  • Can we use our knowledge of the present-day deformation to place constraints on the deformation field in the (recent) past?
  • How can we use our geodetic constraints on the deformation rates to constrain or improve seismic hazard estimates?

    • Here in the Nevada Geodetic Laboratory we look at some specific questions:

  • Can we use geodetically inferred strain rate tensor fields to understand high geothermal activity in the Basin & Range province?
  • How are the relative high strain rates in the Walker Lane Belt accommodated seismically and geologically?
  • To what order constrain the Sierra Nevada mountains the complex deformation in the Walker Lane?
  • Is the future Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository teconically stable?

    • I also have a strong interest in the accuracy and stability of geodetic reference frames. As our geodetic measurements have become more precise, the accuracy and stability of any reference frame in which you want to analyze the inferred velocities (both globally as well regionally) has become very important"

    In the recent past, while in the Geodynamics Laboratory of College de France in Aix-en-Provence/Paris, I worked with Nicolas Chamot-Rooke, Claude Rangin and Xavier Le Pichon on kinematic modeling, and the geodynamic interpretation thereof, of the eastern Mediterranean. Another particular study I was involved in was on the effects of lateral heterogeneity in elastic properties along major strike-slip faults.

    Ever since I finished my Ph.D. in 2001, I have kept working on my thesis project, which involves the modeling of a self-consistent global strain rate field. For this we use mainly world-wide available GPS velocity measurements both on stable plates as within (diffuse) plate boundary zones. This project is the main core of the 'Global Strain Rate Map' project initiated by the International Lithosphere Program. All details and the latest results can be found at www.world-strain-map.org or click on picture below for some info on the latest results.

    Some specific problems that I have investigated in conjunction with the global strain rate map, are;
    a) Comparing expected moment rates with seismic moment rates and seismicity rates
    b) The definition of a new no-net-rotation model of surface motions

    More info about (much) Earlier Studies

    Publications - PDF or abstracts are available

    Kreemer, C., and W.C. Hammond, Geodetic constraints on areal changes in the Pacific-North America plate boundary zone: What controls Basin and Range extension?, Geology, 35, 943-946, 2007.       Link and auxiliary material Here is a Link to a related perspective article

    Kreemer, C., G. Blewitt, and W.C. Hammond, Using geodesy to explore correlations between crustal deformation characteristics and geothermal resources,Geothermal Resources Council Transactions 30, 441-446, 2006.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., D.A. Lavallée, G. Blewitt, and W.E. Holt, On the stability of a geodetic no-net- rotation reference frame and its implication for the Internationl Terrestrial Reference Frame, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L17306, doi:10.1029/2006GL027058, 2006.       PDF and auxiliary material

    Blewitt, G., Kreemer, C., W.C. Hammond, H.-P. Plag, S. Stein, and E. Okal, Rapid determination of earthquake magnitude using GPS for tsunami warning systems, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L11309, doi:10.1029/2006GL026145, 2006.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., G. Blewitt, and F. Maerten, Co- and postseismic deformation of the 28 March 2005 Nias Mw 8.7 earthquake from continuous GPS data, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L07307, doi:10.1029/2005GL025566, 2006.       PDF and auxiliary material

    Kreemer, C., G. Blewitt, W.C. Hammond, and H.-P. Plag, Global deformation from the great 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake observed by GPS: Implications for rupture process and global reference frame, Earth, Planets, and Space, 58, 141-148, 2006.       PDF

    Pancha, A., J.G. Anderson, and C. Kreemer, Comparison of seismic and geodetic scalar moment rates across the Basin and Range Province Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 96, 11-32, 2006.       PDF

    Coolbaugh, M., R. Zehner, C. Kreemer, D. Blackwell, G. Oppliger, D. Sawatzky, G. Blewitt, A. Pancha, M. Richards, C. Helm-Clark, L. Shevenell, G. Raines, G. Johnson, T. Minor, and T. Boyd, Geothermal Potential Map of the Great Basin, Western United States, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Map, 151, 2005.       PDF

    Chamot-Rooke, N., A. Rabaute, and C. Kreemer, Western Mediterranean Ridge mud belt correlates with active shear strain at the prism-backstop contact, Geology, 33, 861-864, 2005.       PDF

    Holt, W.E., C. Kreemer, A.J. Haines, L. Estey, C. Meertens, G. Blewitt, and D. Lavallée, Project helps constrain continental dynamics and seismic hazards, EOS Trans. AGU, 86, 383-387, 2005.       PDF

    Le Pichon, X., C. Kreemer, and N. Chamot-Rooke, Asymmetry in elastic properties and the evolution of large continental strike-slip faults, Journal of Geophysical Research, 110, B03405, doi:10.1029/2004JB003343, 2005.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., N. Chamot-Rooke, and X. Le Pichon, Constraints on the evolution and vertical coherency of deformation in the Northern Aegean
    from a comparison of geodetic, geologic, and seismologic data, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 225, 329-346, 2004.       PDF

    Kreemer, C. and N. Chamot-Rooke, Contemporary kinematics of the southern Aegean and the Mediterranean Ridge,
    Geophysical Journal International, 157, 1377-1392, 2004.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., W.E. Holt, and A.J. Haines, An integrated global model of present-day plate motions and plate boundary deformation,
    Geophysical Journal International, 154, 8-34, 2003.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., W.E. Holt, and A.J. Haines, The global moment rate distribution within plate boundary zones,
    in Plate Boundary Zones, eds. S. Stein and J.T. Freymueller, Geodynamics Series, 30, 10/1029/030GD10, AGU, Washington DC, 2002.

    Kreemer, C. and W.E. Holt, A no-net-rotation model of present-day surface motions,
    Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 4407-4410, 2001.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., J. Haines, W.E. Holt, G. Blewitt, and D. Lavalle, On the determination of a global strain rate model,
    Earth Planets and Space, 52, 765-770, 2000.       PDF and Appendix .

    Kreemer, C. and W.E. Holt, What caused the March 25, 1998 Antarctic plate earthquake?;
      inferences from regional stress and strain rate fields, Geophysical Research Letters, 27 , 2297-2300, 2000.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., W.E. Holt, S. Goes, and R. Govers, Active deformation in eastern Indonesia
      and the Philippines from GPS and seismicity data, Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 663-680, 2000.       PDF

    Kreemer, C., R. Govers, K.P. Furlong, and W.E. Holt, Plate boundary deformation between
      the Pacific and North America in the Explorer region, Tectonophysics, 293, 225-238, 1998.       PDF

    Selection of Meeting Abstracts of Unpublished Work - most abstracts are available by clicking on them.

    Meertens, C.M., L. Estey, C. Kreemer, and W. Holt, Interactive web interface to the global strain rate map project, AGU/CGU Joint Assembly, Abstract G21B-02, 2004.

    Le Pichon, X. and C. Kreemer, The effects of the definition of a stable Eurasian reference frame on geodetic velocity estimates along the its boundariesi, AGU/CGU Joint Assembly, Abstract G24A-05 AGU/CGU, 2004.

    Socquet, A., C. Kreemer, N. Chamot-Rooke, C. Rangin, C. Vigny, and M. Pubellier, Strain modelling in the "Golden Triangle" region using GPS and active faults: interactions with the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis, Geophys. Res. Abstr., 6, EGU04-A-04331, 2004.

    Kreemer, C., and W.E. Holt, The definition of the no-net-rotation reference frame based on a new kinematic model for the entire Earth.s surface, Geophys. Res. Abstr., 6, EGU04-A-02681, 2004.

    Hahn, B.C., W.E. Holt, C. Kreemer, and P.G. Silver, Long-term continental areal reduction produced by tectonic processes,
    35th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, 2004.

    Holt, W.E., C. Kreemer, L.M. Flesch, A.J. Haines, and R.A. Bennett, The resolving power of the current state of GPS information in North America: Implications for PBO planning,
    EOS Trans., AGU, 84(46), Fall Meeting Suppl., T32C-01, 2003.

    Hahn, B.C., W.E. Holt, P.G. Silver, and C. Kreemer, Changes in continental area inferred from space geodesy, EOS Trans., AGU, 84(46), Fall Meeting Suppl., T52A-0234, 2002.

    Chamot-Rooke, N., C. Rangin, C. Kreemer, X. Le Pichon, C. Nielsen, G. Pascal, and A. Rabaute, Recent tectonics of the Mediterranean Ridge ,
    Geophys. Res. Abstr., 5, EAE03-A-07560, 2003.

    Kreemer, C, X. Le Pichon, and N. Chamot-Rooke, Block versus distributed deformation in the Aegean ,
    Geophys. Res. Abstr., 5, EAE03-A-10251, 2003.

    Kreemer, C, A. J. Haines, and W.E. Holt, Are oceanic transform azimuths consistent with geodetic plate motion models ?,
    Geophys. Res. Abstr., 5, EAE03-A-10185, 2003.

    Le Pichon, X., C. Kreemer, and N. Chamot-Rooke, Western extension of the North Anatolian Fault,
    Geophys. Res. Abstr., 5, EAE03-A-10145, 2003.

    Kreemer, C., X. Le Pichon, and N. Chamot-Rooke, GPS strain modelling of the extension of the North Anatolian Fault into the Aegean domain,
    Geophys. Res. Abstr., 5, EAE03-A-10370, 2003.

    W.E. Holt, B.C. Hahn, P.G. Silver, and C. Kreemer, Lithosphere-mantle coupling inferred from mantle seismic anisotropy measurements and surface deformation rates,
    EOS Trans., AGU, 83(47), Fall Meeting Supp l., T11D-1286, 2002.

    Hahn, B.C., W.E. Holt, P.G. Silver, and C. Kreemer, Changes in continental area inferred from space geodesy, EOS Trans., AGU, 83(47), Fall Meeting Suppl., T61A-1250, 2002.

    Blewitt, G., M. Coolbaugh, W. Holt, C. Kreemer, J. Davis, and R. Bennett, Targeting of potential geothermal resources in the Great Basin from regional relationships between geodetic strain and geological structures, Transactions Geothermal Resources Council, 26, 523-526, 2002.

    Kreemer, C.,and N. Chamot-Rooke, How do the North Anatolian and Kephalonia fault zones connect?: Insights from a new regional kinematic model,
    AGU Western Pacific Meeting, Wellington, SE42B-04, 2002.

    Lavallée, D, G. Blewitt, P.J. Clarke, K. Nurutdinov, W.E. Holt, C. Kreemer, C.M. Meertens, W.S. Shiver,
    S. Stein, S. Zerbini, L. Bastos, and H.G. Kahle, GPSVEL project: towards a dense global GPS velocity field,
    IAG Scientific Assembly, Budapest, September, 2001.

    Kreemer, C., L.M. Flesch, and W.E. Holt, The dynamics and kinematics of the central Andes;
    Understanding strike-slip and extensional earthquakes in the high Andes     , Geophys. Res. Abstr., 3, 987, 2001.

    Blewitt, G., D. Lavallée, P.J. Clarke, K. Nurutdinov, W.E. Holt, C. Kreemer, C.M. Meertens, W.S. Shiver, and S. Stein,
    GPSVEL project: towards a dense global GPS velocity field, Proceedings of 10th General Assembly of the
    WEGENER project, Cadiz, Spain, 2000.

    last edited 09/18/06 by C. Kreemer