Modeling 3D crustal velocities in the vicinities of Alaska and the Bering sea

Abstract

Abstract This document introduces Version 0.4 of the TRANS4D software, where TRANS4D is short for Transformations in Four Dimensions. TRANS4D enables geospatial professionals and others to transform three-dimensional positional coordinates across time and among several popular terrestrial reference frames. Version 0.4 introduces new crustal velocity models for the vicinities of Alaska and the Bering Sea, including parts of northwestern Canada and eastern Russia. These new models supplement existing velocity models for the continental United States as well as for most of Canada and for a neighborhood of the Caribbean plate. This document also provides evidence for the existence of a Bering tectonic plate, and it presents estimates for the Euler-pole parameters of this hypothesized plate. Moreover, estimated horizontal velocities computed at several geodetic stations located in Alaska provide evidence for the existence of part of the plate boundary separating the North American plate and the hypothesized Bering plate.