| The spatial and temporal coverage of geodetic data sets such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Positioning System (GPS) is increasing to the point where we can constrain many aspects of the deformation associated with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. As our understanding of the kinematics of deformation improves, we can begin to explore the dynamic processes that drive seismic and volcanic deformation in tectonically active regions around the world.; In this thesis, I use InSAR data in inversions for earthquake source parameters for both small (4.0 < Mw < 5.5) and large (Mw > 7) earthquakes. For small earthquakes, I focus on constraining the hypocenter location and seismic moment. I examine data for small earthquakes in the Basin and Range province of the Western United States, and in the Zagros mountains of Southern Iran. For large earthquakes, I place constraints on the coseismic slip distribution for a pre-determined fault plane geometry and explore how sensitive the inversion is to inadequacies in the fault plane parameterization. I perform inversions for both the 1999 Mw 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake in Southern California and the 1995 Mw 8.1 Antofagasta earthquake in Chile.; I also describe some advances in the technical details of using InSAR observations in inversions for deformation source parameters. I use the full noise covariance matrix in my inversions and compare inferred noise covariances for several interferograms covering the Mojave desert, Southern California, with GPS observations of tropospheric structure functions. I provide an algorithm for resampling (or averaging) InSAR data to minimize the computational burden by reducing the number of data points used as input to inversions. I also explore techniques for regularizing poorly determined inversions of geodetic data for coseismic fault slip. |
