This session focuses on studies that use space or sea-floor geodetic data in order to investigate and infer tectonic plate motions, deformation zones between and within plates, and the current status of earthquake cycles in different settings.

We are looking for studies that investigate how tectonic plates move through time, how such movements are accommodated in deformation zones, and how elastic strain builds up and is then released along faults and at plate boundaries. These studies should combine space or sea-floor geodesy with observations like seismicity, geological slip-rates and rakes, or sea-level and gravity changes.
Key questions concentrate on earthquake likelihood, fault slip-rates, uplift rates, non-elastic strain, and sea-level changes: How to best reference relative InSAR rate maps to plate motions? How to distinguish between horizontal/vertical InSAR signals in order to inform geodynamical inferences? How can we infer the likelihood of future earthquakes from elastic strain buildup? How persistent are fault asperities over multiple earthquake cycles? Are paleoseismic fault slip rates identical to those constrained by geodesy? What portion of plate motion results in earthquakes, and where does the rest go? How do mountains grow in the geologically-short term? How well can we constrain the stresses that drive the observed deformation? How much do the nearly-constant velocities of plates vary during the earthquake cycle, and does this influence the definition of Earth's reference frame?