South Georgia Island, a micro-continental block within the Scotia Plate, has undergone significant tectonic deformation linked to various geodynamic processes. Positioned within a restraining bend along a strike-slip plate boundary, the island experiences compressional tectonics, leading to uplift and internal deformation. In this study, we model the island’s lithospheric deformation using the Finite Element Method (FEM) in Abaqus and validate our results with GPS station data on the island. The FEM model accounts for regional stress distribution and boundary conditions to simulate observed crustal movement and strain accumulation. Preliminary results indicate that the FEM model successfully captures the vertical and horizontal deformation patterns observed in GPS data. The analysis suggests that South Georgia Island is undergoing ongoing uplift, potentially linked to compression within the Scotia-South America plate boundary system. Furthermore, seismicity patterns along the island’s southern margin indicate active deformation, supporting the hypothesis that the Scotia-South America plate boundary may be migrating southward, with South Georgia evolving into an independent micro-plate.

ERT (Electrical Resistivity Tomography) can be used to map geologic variations including: soil lithology (e.g., clay versus gravel), presence of ground water, fracture zones, variations in soil saturation, areas of increased salinity or, in some cases, ground water contamination. On Tuesday, October 8th, we had a filed work to do ERT in the Shelby Farms area for soil lithology (e.g., clay versus gravel), and presence of ground water, etc purposes.