MONITORING VERTICAL MOVEMENTS IN MOUNT CARMEL REGION

The Mount Carmel fault is one of the major geological structures in northern Israel. The fault is characterized by intense and continuous seismic activity, which marks the Carmel region as potentially hazardous. In order to monitor movements in the Carmel region a small network, spanning an area of 40 by 30 km. and consisting of 17 points, was constructed. Four sets of GPS measurements were taken between 1990 and 1999. For additional improvement of the monitoring ability of vertical movements two campaigns of precise leveling were carried in the monitoring region. Two-Step analysis of the GPS measurements in the Carmel monitoring area was carried out to quantify recent vertical tectonic deformations. In this study the precision leveling data from the Survey of Israel is used in addition to the GPS measurements for quantifying vertical deformations in order to improve our understanding of the vertical movements in the Carmel region. Strict analysis of the GPS and the leveling data shows significant vertical movements in the area. Two independent methods are pointing to the same vertical behavior at the monitore