Current vertical movement demonstrated by comparative levelling in Brittany (northwestern France)

The current vertical movement of the Earth's crust is demonstrated through comparative levelling. The two methods presented are complementary. First we constructed a profile along traverses in order to highlight localized features such as recurrent faulting or block tilting. Second we produced a map of relative current vertical movement rates and their error coefficients using a geostatistical kriging method. These methods were applied to Brittany (northwestern France) and revealed that (1) the ancient NW-SE Rance and Morlaix faults are presently reactivated, and (2) the west of the region is tilted with uplift which is interpreted as a lithospheric deformation. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.