Recent Geodynamics: from Crustal Movements to Monitoring Critical Objects

Abstract: This paper addresses the evolution of the views on the subject and methods of geodynamics over the past fifty years. The problems of the metrological provision of the results of repeated observations by the ground-based and satellite geodesy are discussed. It is shown that the basic characteristics of the recent geodynamical processes substantially depend on the degree of spatiotemporal detail of the observational systems. A variant of the solution is suggested for the problem of paradoxes of large and small strain rates which was detected during the studies at the geodynamical sites in seismically active and weakly seismic regions. For explaining the anomalous deformational activity of the platform’s faults, the mechanism of parametric excitation of the processes is suggested according to which the time fluctuations in the internal parameters of a fault zone (stiffness, pore pressure, coefficient of friction) under quasi-static external loading form local strain anomalies. The results of strain monitoring are demonstrated by the example of a shelf oil field. The assertion is substantiated that the concept of geodynamical testing sites is a universal form for investigating the recent deformational processes which offers a unified framework for determining the spatiotemporal structure of the geodynamical phenomena of different scales that are used in the fundamental and applied studies.