Investigating the influences of structural and non-structural parameters on subidence of Gorgan- AqGhala- Aliabad plain, using the integration of InSAR with subsurface data

The Gorgan-Aqghala-Aliabad plain, which is located in Southwestern part of Western Kopet dagh, has experienced subsidence in last decades. One of the effective techniques in subsidence assessment is Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique which is an effective and fast method with high coverage area and high spatial resolution. In this research, the above mentioned plain is selected to determine the subsidence pattern and its relationship with structures and abnormal water consumtion from aquifers, with using integration of InSAR techniques outputs and extracted subsurface data. The results show that some parts of this plain are undergone uplift with a rate of +19.0 mm/yr, whereas, the subsidence is located predominantly in two strips with strikes N40-50 (14.0 km width) and N-S (9.0 km width) with a rate of -9.0 to -14.7 mm/yr. Investigation on subsidence patterns - structures relationship demonstrated that these subsiding strips are correlated with previously determined subsurface structures. Considering the relationship between subsidence-uplift patterns with water wells in the area shows that subsidence pattern continues in the area where there is no exploiting water well. Inversely, in the areas with densely located exploiting water wells, uplift took place. Therefore, these results show that subsidence-uplift patterns of Gorgan-Aqghala-Aliabad plain are dominantly controlled by structures and to a lesser extent by abnormal exploiting from aquifers.