ARTICLE IN PRESS

Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Computers & Geosciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cageo

SSPX: A program to compute strain from displacement/velocity data$

N. Cardozo a,, R.W. Allmendinger b
a
Institutt for Petroleumsteknologi, Universitetet i Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
b
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 91125, USA

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: SSPX is a Macintosh, Cocoa/Universal application to compute strain from displacement/
Received 11 March 2008 velocity data in two and three dimensions. SSPX solves small and large deformation
Received in revised form problems, in either the undeformed (Lagrangian) or deformed (Eulerian) configuration.
18 May 2008
The program offers several options to compute strain: best fit for all or selected data,
Accepted 21 May 2008
strain at a point, strain at stations, Delaunay, grid-nearest neighbor, and grid-distance
weighted. Except for the strain at stations option in 3D, the program computes the strain
Keywords: on a surface that is either flat (slice) or that follows the topography of the data. In the
Inverse strain modeling case of a slice and in 3D, the location and orientation of the slice can be varied to
Displacement gradient
visualize the strain along horizontal or vertical east–west, north–south sections. SSPX
GPS
plots strain in a 2D view (3D strain is displayed as stereonets). We show the application
Analogue
DEM of the program to GPS data, analogue and DEM mechanical simulations.
& 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Fitting a strain model to displacement/velocity data

During the past decade, techniques such as GPS, radar
interferometry, photogrammetry, digital image correla-
tion, and mechanical modeling have provided earth
scientists with a variety of extensive, high-resolution
displacement/velocity data sets. The analysis and model-
ing of these data sets have improved our understanding of
the deformation of the earth.
SSPX is a Macintosh program to compute strain from
displacement/velocity data in two dimensions (2D) and
three dimensions (3D). SSPX calculates best-fitting
strain tensors given displacement or velocity vectors at a
minimum of three points in 2D, or four points in 3D.
If there are more than three data points in 2D or four
data points in 3D, SSPX uses the extra information
to compute the uncertainties of the fitted parameters:
The uncertainties in the assumption that the strain in the
region encompassed by the stations is homogeneous.
$
Program available from servers at http://homepage.mac.com/nfcd/
work/programs.html.
 Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nfcd@mac.com (N. Cardozo).
(i.e. inverse strain modeling) is a first-order interpretation
of the data. Strain allows us to see how much a material
has been deformed, and where and when it has been
deformed. Unfortunately, computing strain from displace-
ment/velocity data is not customary. Often, GPS and radar
interferometry data are mechanically modeled (e.g. with
dislocation elasticity) without computing their strain.
Particle-based, discrete element models (DEM) are seldom
queried by strain, partly because computing strain from
the integration of strain rate in these models can be quite
computationally expensive.
In recent years, programs such as visr2 (Shen et al.,
1996), STRAINGPS (Pietrantonio and Riguzzi, 2004), grid_
strain and grid_strain3 (Teza et al., 2008), and StrainSim-
Pro (Allmendinger et al., 2007) have facilitated 2D and 3D
strain modeling of displacement/velocity data, particu-
larly GPS data. SSPX, which is based on StrainSimPro, has
similar capabilities to the above programs, but in addi-
tion: (i) SSPX is a document based, Macintosh/Cocoa
application with the performance, versatility and ease of
use offered by this technology, (ii) there is no limitation in
the number of displacement/velocity data points, (iii) the
program works equally well for small deformation

0098-3004/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2008.05.008
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1344 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357

(i.e. infinitesimal strain) and large deformation (i.e. finite and in 3D a minimum of four non-planar stations, are
strain) problems, and (iv) although strain is computed on required to compute strain.
a surface, in 3D the location and orientation of the surface To solve this system of linear equations using linear
can be modified to visualize the strain along different algebra methods, Eqs. (1) and (2) should be recast into
horizontal or vertical sections. three matrices, two of which contain known quantities
In this paper we describe the main capabilities and and one that contains unknown quantities. In the initial
functions of SSPX. We also provide some example configuration (Eq. (1)) and in 2D
applications including inverse strain modeling of GPS 21 3 2 3
u1 1 0 1 X1 1 X2 0 0
data, and displacement data from analogue and DEM 61 7 6 72 3
1
mechanical models. SSPX is free for teaching and research. 6 u2 7 6 0 1 0 0 X 1 1 X 2 7 t1
6 7 6 76 7
6 2 u1 7 6 1 0 2 X1 2 X2 0 0 7 t2 7
The program can be downloaded at http://homepage. 6 7 6 76 7
62 7 6 76
mac.com/nfcd/work/programs.html. 6 u2 7 6 0 1 0 0 2
X1 2
X 2 76 G11 7
6
7
6 7¼6 76 7 (3)
6 ... 7 6... ... ... ... 7 G12 7
6 7 6 ... ... 76
6 7
6 7 6 7
2. Theory 6 ... 7 6... ... ... ... ... . . . 76 G 7
6 7 6 74 21 5
6 nu 7 6 1 0 n
X1 n
X1 0 7
0 5 G22
4 15 4
Deformation is the gradient of the displacement field. n
u2 0 1 0 0 n
X1 n
X2
Fig. 1 shows three points in an initial coordinate system X
(light triangle), which are displaced along three non- or in the final configuration (Eq. (2)) and in 2D
parallel vectors u, to their final coordinates x (dark 21 3 2 3
u1 1 0 1 x1 1 x2 0 0
triangle). If the deformation is homogeneous (i.e. parallel 61 7 6 72 3
6 u2 7 6 0 1 0 0 1 x1 1 x2 7 t 1
lines in the initial state remain parallel in the final state), 6 7 6 76 7
6 2 u1 7 6 1 0 2 x1 2 x2 0 0 7 t2 7
the relation between the displacement vectors and the 6 7 6 76 7
62 7 6 76
initial positions is expressed by 6 u2 7 6 0 1 0 0 2
x1 2
x2 76 g 11 7
6
7
6 7¼6 76 (4)
6 . . . 7 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 g 12 77
qu 6 7 6 76 7
ui ¼ t i þ Gij X j and Gij ¼ i 6 7 6 7
(1) 6 . . . 7 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 764 g 21 7
5
qX j 6 7 6 7
6 nu 7 6 1 0 n x1 n x2 0 7
4 15 4 0 5 g 22
where ti is a constant of integration that represents the n
u2 0 1 0 0 n x1 n x2
translation of a point at the origin, and Gij are the
displacement gradients in the initial state. G is referred In 3D the pattern is the same, but just with an
to as the Lagrangian displacement gradient tensor (Means, additional index: There is a 3n  1 vector on the left side,
1976). Likewise, the relation between the displacement and a 3n  12 matrix and a 12  1 vector on the right side.
vectors and the final positions is expressed by Eqs. (3) and (4) are not only written for three stations in
2D or four stations in 3D, but for n stations. If there are
qui
ui ¼ t i þ g ij xj and g ij ¼ (2) more than three stations in 2D or four stations in 3D, the
qxj
system is overdetermined (number of equations greater
where gij are the displacement gradients in the final state. than number of model parameters). In this case, the extra
g is referred to as the Eulerian displacement gradient information can be used to assess the uncertainties of the
tensor (Means, 1976). fitted parameters.
From Eqs. (1) and (2), one can see that in 2D there are The solution to Eqs. (3) and (4) is a classical application
six unknowns: the two components of the translation of inverse theory, specifically the solution of the linear
vector and the four components of the Lagrangian or least-squares problem (Press et al., 1992, their Chapter 15).
Eulerian displacement gradient tensor. In 3D there are This problem has the form
12 unknowns: the three components of the translation
b ¼ Ma (5)
vector and the nine components of the Lagrangian or
Eulerian displacement gradient tensor. Each point with where b is the vector with known displacements/
displacement/velocity data (from now on referred to as a velocities, M is the matrix with initial (Eq. (3)) or final
station) furnishes two (2D) or three (3D) equations. (Eq. (4)) positions of the stations (the design matrix), and
Therefore in 2D a minimum of three non-colinear stations, a is the vector with the unknown model parameters. To
solve for a, b is multiplied by the inverse of matrix M

a ¼ M1 b (6)
u
If the stations are not weighted by their distance to the
point where strain is computed, SSPX solves this general
linear squares problem using singular value decomposi-
X tion (SVD, Press et al., 1992, their routines svdfit and
svdvar). Although faster methods are available, SVD has
the advantage of being stable when the normal equations
are close to singular, as can happen if the stations are
x
nearly colinear (2D) or coplanar (3D, Press et al., 1992). If
Fig. 1. Three points in an initial configuration X move along non-parallel the stations are weighted by their distance to the point of
vectors u to a final configuration x, resulting in strain. computation (distance weighted method in Section 3.2),
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
SSPX solves the linear squares problem with the standard
but less stable weighted least-square solution of
Menke (1984). In either case, the solution returns: (i)
the model parameters a, (ii) the variances or squared
standard-deviation errors of a, which are equal to the
diagonal elements of the covariance matrix, and (iii) a
statistical measure of goodness-of-fit (w2, Press et al.,
1992).
Once the parameters a and the displacement gradient
(the last four elements in 2D, or last nine elements in 3D
of the vector a) are estimated, SSPX computes the strain
tensor (Means, 1976). In the initial configuration, the
Lagrangian strain tensor
1
Eij ¼ ½Gij þ Gji þ Gki Gkj 
2
or in the final configuration, the Eulerian strain tensor
1 and counterclockwise negative).
eij ¼ ½g þ g ji  g ki g kj 
2 ij
The Lagrangian and Eulerian strain tensors are sym-
metric tensors, and therefore there are particular orienta-
tions of the coordinates axes for which the off-diagonal
elements of the tensors are zero. These are the principal
orientations, and correspond to the axes of the strain
ellipse (2D) or ellipsoid (3D). This problem is equivalent to
computing the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the strain
tensor. SSPX uses subroutine jacobi from Press et al. (1992)
to do this. The eigenvectors are the direction cosines of the
principal strain axes in the initial (if Lagrangian strain
tensor) or final (if Eulerian strain tensor) configuration.
The eigenvalues are related to the principal elongations by
(Means, 1976): Initial configuration
li ¼ ð1 þ 2Eii Þ
or final configuration
1
¼ ð1  2eii Þ
li
where l is the quadratic elongation, the square of the
stretch S (1+elongation).
Eqs. (3)–(10) are the basic operations performed by
SSPX in order to compute the strain tensor. Additional
computations from the strain tensor are: Dilatation or
volumetric strain (Ramsay, 1967)
D ¼ S1 S2 S3  1
and maximum shear strain (Ramsay, 1967): Initial config-
uration
p lmax  lmin
y¼ and gmax ¼
4 2ðlmax lmin Þ1=2
or final configuration:
 1=2
l lmax  lmin
y ¼ arctan min and gmax ¼
lmax 2ðlmax lmin Þ1=2
where y is the angle that the maximum shear strain
orientations make with the maximum principal strain axis
and gmax is the magnitude of maximum shear strain.
Although maximum shear strain is computed in 2D and
3D, it is only valid in 2D or 3D plane strain.
1345
The final computation is for the rotation. This opera-
tion is only valid if the strain is infinitesimal (initial and
final configurations are practically the same or where
there is just rigid body translation and/or rotation). If this
is the case, the displacement gradient tensor can be
separated into a symmetric strain tensor eij and an
antisymmetric tensor oij
Gij ¼ ij þ oij (14)
To calculate the rotation axis from the tensor oij
ðo23  o32 Þ ðo13 þ o31 Þ ðo12  o21 Þ
R1 ¼ ; R2 ¼ ; R3 ¼
2 2 2
(15)
(7) The magnitude of R is the magnitude of the rotation and
the sign of R gives the sense of rotation (i.e. looking in the
positive direction of the rotation axis clockwise is positive
(8)
2.1. Error estimation
In Eqs. (7)–(15), SSPX estimates the error as the
absolute difference between the computed strain value
using the displacement gradient tensor, and the computed
strain value using the displacement gradient tensor plus
its error. Thus, the error reported is a maximum estimate.
As described above, the error in the displacement gradient
tensor comes from the covariance matrix calculated in the
least squares fit, and can be set in the program’s Inspector
(View -4 Inspector menu) to be one or twice the standard-
deviation error from the covariance matrix (Fig. 3,
specifically Fig. 3a, 3). The Inspector is a typical element
(9) of Macintosh applications. In SSPX, it is used to modify
stations data, computation parameters, and plot settings
(Section 3).
(10)
3. Functionality
SSPX is an Objective C, Cocoa/Universal application
that runs in Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above. The program is a
document-based application. Several documents can be
opened and each document encapsulates its stations and
strain. A document consists of three views: (i) A Plot view
(Fig. 2a), (ii) A Stations view (Fig. 2b), and (iii) A Strain
(11)
Report view (Fig. 2c). The tabs on top of the document
window (Fig. 2a, 1), or the Plot, Stations, and Strain Report
menus under the View menu can be used to change
between the views.
(12) Stations and strain are plotted in the Plot view (Fig. 2a).
This view can be zoomed in or out (Fig. 2a, 2 or Plot -4
Zoom menus), precisely scaled (Plot -4 Scale), or queried
for angles and distances by dragging the mouse over the
plot (angles and distances are written to the text field 3 in
(13)
Fig. 2a). Strain computation and plot settings are shown
in the text fields below and above the plot, respectively
(Fig. 2a, 3 and 4). The Plot view can be used for interactive
editing of stations: Selecting, activating/deactivating sta-
tions by dragging the mouse over the plot (Section 3.1).
Deactivated stations are not plotted and not considered
in the strain computation. The plot can be saved as a
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1346 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
Fig. 2. Three views of a document window: (a) Plot, (b) Stations, and (c) Strain Report view. Numbers are referred to in text.
pdf (File -4 Save Plot as PDF) or postscript (File -4 Save
Plot as EPS) file.
The Stations view displays the stations in a table (Fig. 2b).
Stations can be added or removed (Fig. 2b, 1), or edited in
the table. Coordinate and stations formats (Section 3.1) can
be changed (Fig. 2b, 2 and 3), and stations can be activated/
deactivated (Fig. 2b, 4). The coordinate format can only be
changed when there are no stations. Changes to the stations
can be undone and redone. The table (Fig. 2b) is bound to
the plot (Fig. 2a), so any change in the table is reflected in
the plot, and vice versa.
The Strain Report view (Fig. 2c) contains a report of
single-strain computations such as best fit for all or
selected, or strain at point (if chosen, Section 3.2). All of
the document views (Fig. 2) have drag-and-drop function-
ality. Shift+dragging the plot save it to the clipboard. After
that, it can be dropped to the desktop (this creates a pdf)
or to any application. Text data files (Section 3.1) can be
dropped into the stations table to load stations. The
content of the Stations table or Strain Report can be
dragged and dropped to spreadsheets and text editors.
All the information contained in a document (stations,
strain, computation and plot settings) can be saved in a
file with extension sspx (File -4 Save and Save As menus).
sspx files can only be opened with SSPX. Stations or strain
data can also be saved as text files (File -4 Save Stations as
txt and Save Strain as txt). Documents in geographic
(longitude–latitude or UTM) coordinates can be exported
as Google Earth kml files (File -4 Save as kml). This places
the elements showing in the Plot view (stations, strain,
colored cells, etc., Fig. 2a) in different folders, so that they
can be turned on/off and modified (e.g. transparency of
colored cells) in Google Earth. kml files are structured text
files that can also be parsed for other GIS systems (e.g. kml
to shp convertion).
3.1. Loading and editing data
Stations data can be entered by reading in a data file
(File -4 Load Stations from txt menu), by dropping a data
file into the stations table, or by typing the data in the
stations table (Fig. 2b). In general, it is much easier to
enter the data from a file. Data files can be prepared in any
text editor or spreadsheet. They should have an extension
txt and should have a specific format. Entries should be
separated by space, tab, or comma. The first line of the
data file is a header which tells the program what data are
to follow. The first line consists of a one or two letter code,
the number 2 (for 2D data) or 3 (for 3D data), and one or
two items that indicate the format of the coordinates of
the stations (LL for longitude–latitude, UTM plus zone
integer for UTM, or no entry for non-geographic). Table 1
shows some examples of first line headers. Possible
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357 1347

Table 1 SSPX uses a right-handed coordinate system where

Examples of first line headers elevation is positive. In the 3D GPS data example above,
X1 are eastings, X2 are northings, and X3 is elevation. If the
Header Comments
horizontal coordinates are in longitude–latitude, SSPX
Xe 2 LL 2D displacement (u1 and u2) data and errors, with converts them to the UTM zone appropriate to the center
initial locations (X1 and X2) given in of the data, and carry out the calculations in UTM. This can
longitude–latitude (LL). Most published GPS data are result in significant distortion if the data cover too many
given in this format.
UTM zones. In our practical experience, the errors due to
X 3 UTM -19 3D displacement (u1, u2, and u3) data without errors
and with initial locations (X1 and X2) in UTM 19 south the distortion are relatively small at a distance up to 73
(negative before the 19 means Southern Hemisphere). UTM zones from the central UTM zone. At this distance, the
X3 is elevation. difference in strain calculated using the central or marginal
C2 2D data identified by initial (X1and X2) and final UTM zone is within, but at the limit of the standard-
(x1and x2) locations. Data are in an arbitrary Cartesian
coordinate system (assumed not to be geographic).
deviation error. All dimensions must be in the same units.
For UTM coordinates, because eastings and northings are in
meters, the components of the displacement vector must
Table 2 also be in meters. If necessary, displacement vectors can be
Possible header codes and format of following data lines adjusted (after loaded) through the program’s Inspector
(View -4 Inspector menu. Fig. 3, specifically Fig. 3a, 1).
Code Format of following Comments
data lines
Once the data are loaded, SSPX plots a 2D projection of
the stations (Plot -4 Stations menu). Though turned off by
V ID, X1, X2, [X3], az, [plg], ID is the station identifier. X are the default, ID of stations and displacement vectors can also be
magn initial coordinates of the station. plotted (Plot -4 Labels and Displacement vectors menus). The
Azimuth, plunge, and magnitude
symbol to display stations and its size, the color and size of
are for the displacement vector.
C ID, X1, X2, [X3], x1, x2, X are the initial and x the final the displacement vectors, the color of the stations and their
[x3] coordinates of the station. labels, and the color of the background can be modified in
X ID, X1, X2, [X3], u1, u2, X are the initial coordinates of the the Inspector (Fig. 3b and d). Stations can be edited in the
[u3] station and u is the displacement stations table, and selected or activated/deactivated in the
vector.
Xe ID, X1, X2, [X3], u1, Same as above, except that u_err
stations table or in the plot view using the Select, Deselect,
u_err1, u2, u_err2, [u3], are the uncertainties in u. This is Activate, or Deactivate menu under the Edit menu. In the
[u_err3] the format most commonly used in latter case, stations can be selected or activated/deactivated
GPS data. inside or outside a polygon defined by dragging the mouse
over the plot view. Stations can be plotted in their initial
(undeformed) or final (deformed) configuration using the
header codes and format of the following data lines are Inspector (Fig. 3a, 2). The reference frame of the stations can
shown in Table 2. Entries unique to 3D data sets are in be set to a selected station (i.e. displacement vectors are
square brackets. plotted with respect to the selected station) using the
The first few lines of a typical 2D GPS data set would Stations -4 Make Reference menu. If strain is computed and
look like: the stations are modified, the program automatically
computes and updates the strain.
Polygons or reference lines can also be loaded into
Xe 2 UTM 19
SSPX (File -4 Load Polygons from txt menu). These lines
udan 356723 7381709 0.73 0.0032 0.246 0.0018
may represent faults, outlines of structural provinces,
julo 342171 7397395 0.527 0.0026 0.082 0.0028
boundaries of a experiment, etc. Polygons are described
with a simple format and must be read from a text file (a
where the negative sign after UTM indicates a Southern file with txt extension). The first line of a polygons file
Hemisphere site. A 3D GPS data set would look like must contain the word ‘‘SSPpolygon’’. If the polygons are
in longitude–latitude the first line must read ‘‘SSPpolygon
Xe 3 UTM 19 LL’’. Each subsequent line contains the x1 x2 coordinates of
udan 356723 7381709 58.8 0.73 0.0032 0.246 one vertex. These should be separated by space, tab, or
0.0018 0.008 0.0083 comma. The end of a polygon is marked by the word
julo 342171 7397395 122.9 0.527 0.0026 0.082 ‘‘end’’. A polygons file with two polygons would look like:
0.0028 0.28 0.0043
SSPpolygon
580622.70473816 4379775.59400803
and a DEM data set like 523737.28807149 4414171.42734136
473466.45473816 4435338.09400803
X2 end
1 1.88741917723 4.13355342676 0.00117937 89820.62140483 4414171.42734136
0.01013467 136122.70473816 4435338.09400803
2 1.46248086779 4.71405507249 0.00577715 178456.03807149 4455181.84400803
0.01784858 end
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1348 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
Fig. 3. Inspector and its views: (a) Calculation, (b) Colors, (c) Color bar, (d) Size, and (e) Slice view. Numbers are referred to in text.
Polygons can only be drawn (Plot -4 Polygons menu) on
horizontal slices (Section 3.3). The color and thickness of
polygon lines can be changed in the Inspector (Fig. 3b and d).
3.2. Computing strain
Under the Strain menu, there are seven menus to
compute strain in SSPX: (i) Best Fit for All, (ii) Best Fit for
Selected, (iii) Strain at Point, (iv) Strain at Stations,
(v) Delaunay, (vi) Grid-Nearest Neighbor, and (vii) Grid-
Distance Weighted. All these menus except Strain at
Stations, compute strain on a surface that is either flat
(slice) or that follows the topography of the data (Section 3.3).
The reference frame for the computation is that of
the data (Fig. 3a, 2). If the data are in their initial
(undeformed) configuration, the Lagrangian approach is
used. If the data are in their final (deformed) configura-
tion, the Eulerian approach is used (Section 2). The
dimension of the strain is that of the data: 2D strain for
2D data, or 3D strain for 3D data.
The Best Fit for All or Selected menus calculate the
strain that best fits all or selected stations and plots the
strain at the center of the stations data. The stations
are weighted equally in the calculation. A detailed report
is written to the Strain Report view. This report contains
the w2 for the least-squares fit, the displacement and
strain tensors, and the value and error of the principal
elongations, maximum shear strain, dilatation, and rota-
tion (Fig. 2c).
The Strain at Point menu calculates the strain at any
arbitrary point using the nearest neighbor or distance
weighted method below. When this menu is selected, a
panel shows up (Fig. 4a). Within this panel, the nearest
neighbor or distance weighted method can be chosen, and
the parameters of the chosen method can be set. Pasting
(adding or replacing) the strain in the plot and writing a
detailed report of the strain on mouse up, can be selected.
Once the Okay button (Fig. 4a) is pressed, the mouse can
be dragged over the plot view. The stations used in the
computation will be highlighted, and the strain at the
current mouse location will be plotted. The Strain at Point
menu is a great way to see the variation of strain as the
mouse is dragged over the plot view.
Like the Strain at Point menu, the Strain at Stations
menu calculates the strain using the nearest neighbor or
distance weighted method, but in this case the strain is
computed at every station. When this menu is selected, a
panel similar to the Strain at Point panel (Fig. 4a) shows
up. Within this panel, the computation method (nearest
neighbor or distance weighted) and its parameters can be
set. Once the Okay button is pressed, the strain is
computed and drawn at the stations. The Strain at Stations
menu is useful to compute the strain at the nodes of a grid
(e.g. reservoir modeling grid) with nodal displacement/
velocity data.
The Delaunay menu constructs a mesh of Delaunay
triangles with vertices defined by the stations, and then
calculates and plots the strain in each triangle. This menu
functions only in 2D. When this menu is selected, the
panel of Fig. 4b shows up. Within this panel, triangles
with small apical angles can be excluded and the
minimum internal angle of valid triangles can be set.
The triangulation can be set for all stations, or for those
stations within a polygon (Fig. 4b). In the latter case, the
polygon should be defined after pressing Okay by dragging
the mouse over the plot view. SSPX calculates the strain
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
Fig. 4. Four panels to compute strain in SSPX: (a). Strain at point, (b) Delaunay, (c) Grid-Nearest Neighbor, and (d) Grid-Distance Weighted panel.
in each triangle independently of all the neighboring
triangles. Strain compatibility between neighboring trian-
gles is not enforced.
The Grid-Nearest Neighbor menu draws a regularly
spaced grid and at the center of each square cell calculates
the strain using the n nearest stations within a maximum
radius, where n should be equal or greater than 3 for 2D,
or 4 for 3D. When this menu is selected, the panel of
Fig. 4c shows up. Within this panel, the spacing of the
grid, the number of neighbors, and the maximum distance
(radius) can be specified. Similar to the Delaunay method,
gridding can be set for all stations, or for those stations
within an user-defined polygon. In general, the nearest
neighbor method is more flexible and powerful than the
Delaunay method because any number of nearest neigh-
bors can be specified, thus permitting over-constrained
solutions where the statistics of the fit are more mean-
ingful. The larger the number of nearest neighbors, the
more the smoothing of the deformation field. This is
useful when computing strain in highly heterogeneous
displacement fields, such as in DEM. In this case, the
nearest neighbor routine acts as a homogenizer of the
displacement field. Like in the Delaunay method, no
attempt is made to enforce strain compatibility between
adjacent cells.
The Grid-Distance Weighted menu draws a regularly
spaced grid and at the center of each square cell calculates
the strain using all stations. Each station is weighted by its
1349
distance to the center of the cell:
!
2
d
W ¼ exp (16)
2a2
where W is the weighting factor, d is distance and a is a
constant that specifies how the influence of a station
decays with distance. Stations within a 1a distance
contribute more than 67% to the solution whereas those
at a distance greater than 3a contribute less than 1% (Shen
et al., 1996). W is represented as a diagonalized matrix
and is included in the inversion as (Menke, 1984)
a ¼ ½MT WM1 MT Wb (17)
When the Grid-Distance Weighted menu is selected, the
panel of Fig. 4d shows up. Within this panel, the spacing of
the grid, and the distance weighting factor a can be
specified. Similar to the previous two methods, gridding
can be set for all stations, or for those stations within a
user-defined polygon. Weighting by distance produces a
smoother strain than the Delaunay or nearest neighbor
method, and is particularly effective for visualizing
regional patterns. However, just as geology is hetero-
geneous, it is likely that strain is too, and important
details might be overlooked by using the distance
weighted approach (second example in Section 4.1 and
Fig. 8).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1350 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
3.3. Slicing a 3D model
Although in all Strain menus but the Strain at Stations
menu, 3D strain is computed on a surface, the orientation
and location of the surface can be changed in the Slice
view of the Inspector (Fig. 3e). This is a powerful way to
visualize the variation of strain in a 3D volume (Section 4.3).
Four orientations are available (Fig. 3e, 1): (i) flat
horizontal surface (slice), (ii) flat vertical surface (slice)
parallel to x1 (east–west), (iii) flat vertical surface (slice)
parallel to x2 (north–south) and (iv). x1x2 surface with
elevation equal to the average elevation of nearest
neighbors in x1x2. The last option fits the topography
of the surface to that of the stations in the case of a
nearest neighbor computation (Section 3.2).
For the slice cases (first three options above), the
datum or coordinate of the slice in the direction
perpendicular to the slice (Fig. 5), can be set through a
slider in the Inspector (Fig. 3e, 2). Moving the slider to its
left end, locates the slice at the lowest datum defined by
the stations, and vice versa. Additionally, the width or
perpendicular distance from the slice within which
stations are considered for plotting and computation
(Fig. 5), can be set through a second slider in the Inspector
(Fig. 3e, 3). Moving this slider to its right end, makes all
stations valid for plotting and computation, and vice
versa.
By default 3D strain is computed on a slice through 3D
data, but if necessary 2D strain can also be computed on
the slice (Edit -4 3D As 2D menu). This is equivalent to
dropping the dimension perpendicular to the slice in the
strain computation, which can be useful when the extent
of the data in the direction perpendicular to the slice is
negligible compared to the extent of the data on the slice
(Section 4.2).
3.4. Visualizing strain
SSPX plots strain in a 2D view (Fig. 2a). For 2D strain,
the Plot -4 Extension axes, Shortening axes, Maximum Shear
Strain Planes, Rotation Arcs, and Ellipses menus can be used
to visualize strain (Fig. 6a and b). The color, size, and
exaggeration of the 2D strain features (ticks, arcs, and
Width
Datum Slice
Width
Fig. 5. Perpendicular view to a slice. Light gray rectangle is area covered
by stations. Dash line is projection of slice. Only stations within dark
rectangle are plotted and used in strain computation. Both, datum and
width, can be set in Inspector (Fig. 3e, 2–3).
ellipses) can be modified in the Inspector (Fig. 3b and d).
For 3D strain, the Plot -4 Stereonets menu can be used to
visualize strain as lower hemisphere, equal angle stereo-
nets with the extension (T) quadrant filled with gray to
resemble fault plane solutions (Fig. 6c). The Plot -4
Extension axes, Shortening axes, and Rotation Arcs menus
can be used to toggle on/off principal and rotation axes in
the stereonets. The size of the stereonets can be modified
in the Inspector (Fig. 3d). Stereonets are projected into the
plot/slice (Section 3.3): If the plot is the horizontal,
stereonets are viewed straight down with north at the
top (Fig. 6c, left). If the plot is a vertical, east–west section,
stereonets are viewed straight north with up at the top
(Fig. 6c, A–A0 ). If the plot is a vertical, north–south section,
stereonets are viewed straight west with up at the top
(Fig. 6c, B–B0 ).
Cells (Delaunay or squares) can be colored by the value
or error of a strain parameter using the Plot -4 Color Cells
By -4 Extension, Shortening, Maximum Shear Strain
(Fig. 6b), Dilatation, or Rotation (Fig. 6a and c) menu
(each one of these has a Value and Error submenu). Cells
with errors greater than the magnitude of the colored
parameter (insignificant cells) can be marked (Plot -4
Insignificant Results -4 Mark) or not plotted (Plot -4
Insignificant Results -4 Don’t Draw). Four color-scale bars
are available and any of these can be chosen in the
Inspector (Fig. 3c, 1). The limits of the color bar can be set
in the Inspector to maximum–minimum values, maximum
absolute value, or fixed limits entered by the user (Fig. 3c, 2).
The View -4 Color Bar menu displays the color bar in
a separate panel that floats over the document. Similar to
the other views in the program, the color bar can be
dragged and dropped to the desktop (this creates a pdf) or
to any application.
4. Applications
SSPX can be applied to any problem where displace-
ment/velocity data are sufficiently dense to compute with
confidence the displacement/velocity gradient tensor and
the strain/strain rate (Section 2). In this section, we show
the application of the program to regional GPS data,
analogue, and DEM mechanical simulations.
4.1. Regional GPS data
GPS networks record very small, practically instanta-
neous at the geological time scale, deformation. GPS strain
is infinitesimal. Therefore the decomposition of the strain
into symmetric and antisymmetric tensors (Eq. (14)), and
the computation of rotation rates (Eq. (15)) are valid
operations. Regional GPS networks are generally not
uniformly distributed. A strong homogenizing, gridded
solution such as the Grid-Distance Weighted routine
(Section 3.2) is necessary to extract robust regional
patterns from the data. The application of SSPX and
its predecessor StrainSimPro to regional GPS data is
illustrated by Allmendinger et al. (2005) and Allmendinger
et al. (2007). Interestingly, these publications document a
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357 1351

a b

c B’

A A’

A A’

B B’

Fig. 6. 2D graphical representations of strain: (a) 2D infinitesimal strain with extension and shortening axes, and rotation arcs. (b) 2D finite strain with
maximum shear strain planes and ellipses. (c) 3D strain with lower hemisphere stereonets. A–A0 and B–B0 are east–west and north–south vertical
sections, respectively. a and c are colored by rotation and b by maximum shear strain.

clear correlation between GPS strain and permanent,
long-term geological deformation.
Fig. 7a shows a map of GPS, 2D strain and rotation rates
for Tibet and the Himalayas. The strain is based on a GPS
network of 553 stations (dots in Fig. 7a) from Zhang et al.
(2004). The strain was computed in SSPX using the Grid-
Distance Weighted routine with 75 km grid spacing and
a ¼ 150 km. Insignificant cells are not drawn. The princi-
pal infinitesimal strain axes (black and white ticks in
Fig. 7a) are consistent with the orientation of large
geological structures (black polygon lines in Fig. 7a).
Shortening axes (white ticks in Fig. 7a) are oriented
orthogonal to the local thrust structures in the Himalayas.
Along left-lateral and right-lateral strike slip faults,
extension (black ticks in Fig. 7a) and shortening axes are
close to 451 to the fault zones and are in the right
orientation, with the exception of a right-lateral strike slip
fault in the center of the figure. The GPS strain shows large
coherent domains of clockwise (positive) and counter-
clockwise (negative) rotation, which are consistent with
the permanent, long-term deformation of the area
(Allmendinger et al., 2007).
Fig. 7b shows part of the GPS strain of Fig. 7a exported
from SSPX to Google Earth. The figure is a close-up of an
area in the upper left corner of Fig. 7a (dashed rectangle in
Fig. 7a). In this case, strain is displayed as maximum shear
strain, right-lateral (black ticks in Fig. 7b) and left-lateral
(white ticks in Fig. 7b) planes. The possibility to export
stations and strain to Google Earth is a great feature of
SSPX, because one can compare the strain to the satellite
imagery. For example the placemark c in Fig. 7b shows a
right-lateral offset of a series of river terraces (Fig. 7c). The
right-lateral maximum shear planes from SSPX (black
ticks in Fig. 7b) are close to parallel to the fault scarp in
the placemark (Fig. 7c). A striking evidence of the
correlation between GPS strain and permanent, long-term
geological deformation.
The manner in which one analyzes displacement/
velocity gradients can emphasize local or regional pat-
terns. Strain is very sensitive to the length scale of the
analysis. We illustrate this point by analyzing the Plate
Boundary Observatory (PBO) GPS data set for the Western
United States (UNAVCO, 20071). These data consist of
1
UNAVCO, 2007, Plate boundary observatory: supporting Earth-
Scope geodetic, seismic, and tectonic research: accessed 9/1/2007, http://
pboweb.unavco.org/gps_data/.
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1352 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357

75° 80° 85° 90° 95° 100° 105°

40°
b

35°

30°

25°
-0.7 0 2.2

Vertical axis rotation rate (x 10-6deg/yr)

α = 150 km

100 m

Fig. 7. (a) Map of GPS strain and rotation rates for Tibet and Himalayas. GPS stations (dots) are from Zhang et al. (2004). Heavy black lines show major
structures. Arrows indicate sense of shear of strike slip faults. Ticks are shortening (black) and extension (white) infinitesimal axes. (b) Google Earth close-
up of dashed-rectangle in a. Ticks are maximum shear strain, right-lateral (black) and left-lateral (white) planes. (c) Google Earth close-up of placemark c
in b. Arrows indicate sense of offset of river terraces.

Mt. St.
Helens
dilatation dilatation
30 1204

0 0

Long
Valley

-98 -2160
nstrain/yr Parkfield nstrain/yr

Grid spacing = 25 km, α = 100 km Grid spacing = 25 km, Neighbors = 12

Maximum radius = 300 km

Fig. 8. Map of GPS dilatation for Western United States using (a). Grid-Distance Weighted routine with a ¼ 100 km, and (b). Grid-Nearest Neighbor
routine with 12 neighbors. Dots are GPS stations. GPS stations from UNAVCO (2007).
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
670 stations and have a heterogeneous distribution, with the
majority of the stations (dots in Fig. 8) concentrated along
the North America–Pacific plate boundary (San Andreas
fault) and the North America–Juan de Fuca boundary
(Cascadia subduction zone). We analyzed these data in
two ways: (i) Using the Grid-Distance Weighted routine
with 25 km grid spacing and a ¼ 100 km, and (ii) With the
Grid-Nearest Neighbor routine (Section 3.2) with 25 km
grid spacing, 12 neighbors, and maximum radius ¼ 300
km. The former smoothes out strain at 100 km length
scales and illustrates the regional patterns (Fig. 8a). The
Basin and Range extensional province, but especially the
eastern and western margins, show positive 2D dilatation,
consistent with active normal faulting and crustal thin-
ning. From the Mendocino triple junction northward, the
Cascadia margin is characterized by negative 2D dilatation
as befits a convergent margin and crustal thickening.
Fig. 8a does not show local strain anomalies because of
the regional smoothing applied.
The nearest neighbor algorithm (Fig. 8b) has a spatially
variable distance weighting: in some areas 12 stations are
clustered within a few square kilometers, whereas in
other areas the 12 stations are spread out over as much as
a few hundred square kilometers. Stations are clustered
where active geologic features are present. The small
station spacing and active deformation results in
very high strain rates (Fig. 8b). With this analysis,
Mt. St. Helens volcano is characterized by largely negative
2D dilatation rate whereas Long Valley Caldera has a
strong positive 2D dilation rate. The ‘‘usual’’ assumption
about 2D dilatation rate—positive and negative dilatation
equals crustal thinning and thickening, respectively—does
not work in the case of volcanic centers because the
assumption of constant volume is incorrect. In these cases,
it is best to think of the Long Valley case as excess
horizontal extension associated with inflation of the magma
body and conversely, Mt. St. Helens as deflation of the
magma body producing excess horizontal shortening.
4.2. Analogue models
During the past decade, the application of close-range
photogrammetry, optical image correlation, laser scan-
ning, and X-ray computer tomography to analogue models
have provided scientists with a variety of small scale,
high-resolution displacement/velocity data sets (e.g.
Fischer and Keating, 2005; Adam et al., 2005; Nilforoush-
an et al., 2008). In this section, we show the application of
SSPX to one of these data sets, specifically the displace-
ment field of a scaled physical model of folding above a
laterally growing reverse fault (Fischer and Keating, 2005).
The main characteristics of the simulation are: (i) the
deformed material is clay, (ii) the initial dimensions of the
clay are (60  50  3 cm), (iii) the dip of the underlying
fault is 451, (iv) the fault has a symmetric, linearly
tapering displacement profile along strike, and (v) the
fault grows across and along strike (Fischer and Keating,
2005).
The x1, x2, x3 positions of about 1000 identical marker
points on the surface of the clay were determined at
1353
different stages in the model run using close-range
photogrammetry. Thus, incremental and cumulative dis-
placement on the surface of the clay are known (Fischer
and Keating, 2005, their Fig. 10F–J). Fig. 9 shows the
evolution of topography (black contours with labels) and
horizontal strain (color-filled contours) in the simulation.
The strain was computed in SSPX using the Grid-Nearest
Neighbor routine with 5 mm grid spacing, 6 neighbors, and
maximum radius ¼ 20 mm. Although the stations are in
3D, the strain was computed on a horizontal x1x2 plane
(Edit -4 3D As 2D menu), because the coverage of the
stations in the vertical is not enough to accurately
compute 3D strain. Still, 2D horizontal strain (Fig. 9)
highlights key deformational processes.
Horizontal extension (emax, Fig. 9a), shortening (emin,
Fig. 9b), dilatation (Fig. 9c), and vertical axis rotation
(Fig. 9d) illustrate the growth of the structure. Horizontal
extension migrates from the crest towards the flanks of
the structure as the fault grows laterally (Fig. 9a, left four
columns). Cumulative horizontal extension is maxi-
mum at the crest and upper two-thirds of the monocline
(Fig. 9a, fifth column). Horizontal shortening is maximum
in front of the monocline and increases laterally as the
fault grows laterally. Throughout the simulation, there is
shortening deficit (i.e. extension) at the upper two-thirds
of the monocline (Fig. 9b, left four columns). Cumulative
horizontal shortening is maximum in front of the mono-
cline, and negative (i.e. extension) in the upper two-thirds
of the monocline (Fig. 9b, fifth column). Positive and
negative horizontal dilatation correlate with the regions
of horizontal extension and shortening, respectively
(Fig. 9a–c). If the deformation is constant-volume (some-
thing we cannot determine with the stations data),
positive and negative horizontal dilatation should be
balanced by vertical thinning and thickening, respectively.
Vertical axis rotation mostly occurs over the edges of the
uplift (Fig. 9d). The rotation is counterclockwise in the
north, and clockwise in the south, and is perpendicular to
the fault (Fig. 9d). Vertical axis rotation parallel to the
fault occurs in front of the monocline, although of lower
magnitude (Fig. 9d, fourth column).
4.3. Discrete element models
Discrete element models (DEM) consist of individual
particles of finite size, each of them having their own
displacement and rotation. These displacements are
strongly heterogeneous: particle displacements cannot
be estimated from continuous displacement gradients
(Eqs. (1) and (2)). Establishing a link between particle-
level displacements and the macro-level displacement
gradient and strain tensors, however, is fundamental to
interpret DEM results from a macro-level context (Bagi,
2006). SSPX can be used to interpret the strain from the
particle displacements of DEM. The program can compute
a best-fit displacement gradient tensor (and strain tensor)
that gives the smallest deviation from the displacements
of the particle system within smaller subregions of the
DEM. Heterogeneous particle displacements can thus be
homogenized. The strain computed in SSPX is equivalent
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1354 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357

0-5 mm slip 5-10 mm slip 10-15 mm slip 15-20 mm slip 0-20 mm slip
500

400 5e-2
x2 (mm)

300 36
32 38 42 42
32
32
0
200 32 32

500

400
1e-2
0
x2 (mm)

300

200 -2e-1

500

400 1e-1
x2 (mm)

300

-2e-1
200

200 300 400

500
x1 (mm)

400
x2 (mm)

300

200

200 300 400 200 300 400 200 300 400 200 300 400
x1 (mm) x1 (mm) x1 (mm) x1 (mm)

Fig. 9. Evolution of topography and horizontal strain in Fischer and Keating (2005) laterally propagating fault simulation. Black lines with labels are
contours of elevation in mm. Strain is shown as incremental (left four columns), and cumulative (fifth column). (a) Extension (emax). (b) Shortening (emin).
(c) Dilatation. (d) Rotation. Black and white ticks in a–c are extension and shortening axes, respectively. Black and white ticks in d are right lateral and left
lateral maximum shear strain planes, respectively. Stations data were kindly provided by Mark Fischer and David Keating.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
to the best-fit strain proposed by Peter Cundall (Bagi,
2006). Strain is based on the displacements of the particle
centers. Particle rotations are not taken into consideration.
We illustrate the application of SSPX to DEM using an
unpublished, 3D DEM of large-scale thrusting by Stuart
Hardy (Figs. 10 and 11). Before deformation, the model is a
prismatic block of 14.5  6.2  2.3 km consisting of 37,000
spherical particles (i.e. stations) of radii 125–25 m.
Thrusting is achieved by fixing the left side of the model
and moving the right side towards the left (fixed back wall
model). Particles on the bottom rest over a horizontal,
frictionless surface, and there are gravitational forces
in the model. Further details about the implementation
of this specific DEM can be found in Hardy and Finch
(2007).
Fig. 10 shows the cumulative, total strain of the DEM
on three horizontal (Fig. 10a) and three vertical x1x3
(Fig. 10b) slices. The width or distance perpendicular
from a slice within which stations are considered for
computation (Fig. 5) was set to 300 m. About 9000
stations (dots in Figs. 10 and 11) on horizontal slices,
and 4000 stations on vertical slices, were used for the
computation. 3D strain was computed in SSPX using the
Grid-Nearest Neighbor routine with 100 m grid spacing, 8
neighbors, and maximum radius ¼ 300 m. In a 2.2 GHz
Intel Core Duo laptop, strain calculation on a slice took
less than 30 s.
x3 = 600 m
x3
x2
x1
x3 = 1200 m
x3 = 1800 m
0 2 km
Fig. 10. 3D cumulative, total strain of a 3D DEM of thrusting. (a) Horizontal and (b) vertical x1x3 slices. White dashed lines in horizontal slices show
location of vertical slices on right, and vice versa. Dots are particle centroids. Filled contours are maximum shear strain. Data were kindly provided by
Stuart Hardy.
1355
Contours of maximum shear strain (Eq. (13)) display
the 3D variation of cumulative strain in the model from
bottom (x3 ¼ 600 m) to top (x3 ¼ 1800 m), and from south
(x2 ¼ 1500 m) to north (x2 ¼ 4500 m, Fig. 10). The record
of faulting (i.e. maximum shear strain) is broad and
patchy at lower elevations (x3 ¼ 600 m) and narrows
higher up (x3 ¼ 1800 m, Fig. 10). In sequence thrusts
below the main thrust occur at lower elevations
(Fig. 10b) and preferably on the northern side
(x3 ¼ 600 m, Fig. 10a). Fig. 11 shows the strain of the
DEM for a 2% slip increment, on the same slices of Fig. 10.
3D strain was computed as in Fig. 10. Contours of
maximum shear strain display the 3D variation of
incremental strain (i.e. active faulting) in the model. At
the latest stage of the run, active faulting is patchy on all
slices, although it narrows from the bottom to the top
(Fig. 11). Fig. 11 suggests that the thrusts in the experi-
ment grow both in the direction of transport and along
strike, by the interaction and linking of patches of fault
activity.
5. Conclusions
SSPX is a Macintosh program that facilitates the
computation of strain/strain rate from displacement/
velocity data in 2D and 3D. The program is based on a
simple theoretical framework (Section 2) that allows
x2 = 1500 m
x1
x2 = 3000 m
x2 = 4500 m
0 2
Max. shear strain
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1356 N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
x3 = 600 m
x3
x2
x1
x3 = 1200 m
x3 = 1800 m
0 2 km
Fig. 11. 3D incremental strain of a 3D DEM of thrusting. Slip increment is 2% of total. (a) Horizontal and (b) vertical x1x3 slices. White dashed lines in
horizontal slices show location of vertical slices on right, and vice versa. Dots are particle centroids. Filled contours are maximum shear strain. Data were
kindly provided by Stuart Hardy.
the computation of small or large strain in the unde-
formed or deformed configuration. The advantages of
SSPX include: (i) no limitation on the number of stations,
(ii) interactive querying, editing, and activation/deactivation
of stations, (iii) several options to compute strain at
arbitrary points, stations, or cells, (iv) fast, near real-time
computations, (v) computation and visualization of strain
in 3D volumes along different orientations, (vi) editing
and toggling of the elements to visualize 2D or 3D strain,
(vii) export of stations and strain data as text or Google
Earth files, and (viii) additional advantages of Cocoa,
document based applications (i.e. drag and drop, Undo/
Redo, etc.).
Fitting a homogeneous strain model to displacement
data is a straightforward, but unfortunately often ne-
glected processing technique. The examples in this paper
(Section 4) illustrate how much can be gained by
computing strain. Strain is like a special lens that reveals
how much a material is deformed, and where and when it
was deformed. Inverse strain modeling of displacement/
velocity data confers a pattern to scattered observations
that at first may look completely disorganized. This is
essential for interpreting displacement/velocity observa-
tions in terms of continuum mechanics, a subject with
which we are more familiarized. Inverse strain modeling
is also useful for transferring results from discrete to
continuous models. For example, the heterogeneous
displacements of a DEM can be interpreted in terms of
x2 = 1500 m
x1
x2 = 3000 m
x2 = 4500 m
0 0.2
Max. shear strain
strain, and the strain can then be transferred into the cells
of a reservoir model. Strain can be used to condition the
spatial variability of petrophysical properties in the
reservoir model.
SSPX is work in progress. There are several additional
functionalities that would be ideal to implement in the
program. The most obvious include: (i) slices of any trend
and inclination, and (ii) cross-correlation of sequential
images to infer displacements. The implementation of the
last functionality is facilitated by the Core Image frame-
work of Mac OS X.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Jack Loveless, Rob Reilinger,
Matt Pritchard, Mike Bevis, Stuart Hardy, Jan Tveranger,
and Alvar Braathen for discussions about extracting strain
from displacement/velocity data and its applications.
Mark Fischer and David Keating kindly exchanged data
from their analogue models. Stuart Hardy kindly provided
us with data from one of his 3D, DEM models. Critical
reviews by Richard Lisle and an anonymous reviewer
improved the manuscript. Nestor Cardozo’s work has been
supported by the Fault Facies project at the Center for
Integrated Petroleum Research (CIPR). CIPR, The Norwe-
gian Research Council, ConocoPhillips, and Statoil sponsor
the Fault Facies project. Richard Allmendinger’s work has
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
N. Cardozo, R.W. Allmendinger / Computers & Geosciences 35 (2009) 1343–1357
been supported by NSF Grants EAR-0337496, EAR-
0510785, and EAR-0738633.
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