UC Riverside

Geodetic techniques involving spaceborne measurement have revolutionized scientific understanding of Earth surface deformation, and this thesis presents several independent methodological developments concerning such data. The primary results are: a more general method for the optimal design of geodetic networks; an algorithm for detecting transient deformation events in large geodetic datasets; the identification of a previously unmapped fault in the San Francisco Bay Area, California; a new approach to quantifying the permeability structure of shallow, near-surface, strike slip faults; and a regional evaluation of correlated seasonal deformation in the Bay Area. These results are not strictly related, however, several themes are present throughout. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of statistical and numerical methodology. Although the results presented in this thesis are not strictly related, they represent a significant contribution to our scientific understanding of Earth surface deformation phenomena.