Lithospheric strength and its relationship to the elastic and seismogenic layer thickness

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Volumn 213, Issue 1-2, 2003, Pages 113-131

  Watts, A B ^a   Burov, E B ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^b SORBONNE UNIVERSITÉ   (France)

Author keywords

Elastic thickness; Flexure; Lithosphere; Mantle; Rheology; Seismogenic layer

Indexed keywords

ELASTICITY; FLEXURE; LITHOSPHERE; LITHOSPHERIC STRUCTURE; MANTLE; PLATE TECTONICS; RHEOLOGY;

EID: 0041698056     PISSN: 0012821X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0012-821X(03)00289-9     Document Type: Article

References (87)

1. Watts, A. B. (1978). An analysis of isostasy in the world's oceans: 1. Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain. J. Geophys. Res., 83 5989-6004.
2. Burov, E. B., & Diament, M. (1995). The effective elastic thickness (Te) of continental lithosphere: What does it really mean?. J. Geophys. Res., 100 3895-3904.
3. Byerlee, J. D. (1978). Friction of rocks. Pageophys, 116 615-626.
4. Kirby, S., Durham, W., & Stern, L. (1991). Mantle phase changes and deep-earthquake faulting in subducting lithosphere. Science, 252 216-225.
5. Kirby, S. H., Stein, S., Okal, E. A., & Rubie, D. C. (1996). Metastable mantle phase transformations and deep earthquakes in subducting oceanic lithosphere. Rev. Geophys., 34 261-306.
6. Goetze, C. (1978). The mechanisms of creep in olivine. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, 288 99-119.
7. Goetze, C., & Evans, B. (1979). Stress and temperature in the bending lithosphere as constrained by experimental rock mechanics. Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 59 463-478.
8. Watts, A. B., Bodine, J. H., & Steckler, M. S. (1980). Observations of flexure and the state of stress in the oceanic lithosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 85 6369-6376.
9. Burov, E. B., & Diament, M. (1996). Isostasy, equivalent elastic thickness, and inelastic rheology of continents and oceans. Geology, 24 419-422.
10. Bodine, J. H., Steckler, M. S., & Watts, A. B. (1981). Observations of flexure and the rheology of the oceanic lithosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 86 3695-3707.
11. McNutt, M. K., & Menard, H. W. (1982). Constraints on yield strength in the oceanic lithosphere derived from observations of flexure. Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 71 363-394.
12. Chen, W. P., & Molnar, P. (1983). Focal depths of intracontinental and intraplate earthquakes and their implications for the thermal and mechanical properties of the lithosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 88 4183-4214.
13. Maggi, A., Jackson, J. A., Priestley, K., & Baker, C. (2000). A re-assessment of focal depth distributions in southern Iran, the Tien Shan and northern India: do earthquakes occur in the continental mantle?. Geophys. J. Int., 143 629-661.
14. G. Ranalli, Rheology of the Earth, Chapman and Hall, London, 1995, 413 pp.
15. Chester, F. M. (1995). A rheologic model for wet crust applied to strike-slip faults. J. Geophys. Res., 100 13033-13044.
16. B. Bos, C.J. Spiers, Frictional-viscous flow in phyllosilicate-bearing fault rock: Microphysical model and Implications for crustal strength profiles, J. Geophys. Res. 107 (2002)
17. Jackson, J. A., & White, N. J. (1989). Normal faulting in the upper continental crust: observations from regions of active extension. J. Struct. Geol., 11 15-32.
18. Wiens, D. A., & Stein, S. (1984). Intraplate seismicity and stresses in young oceanic lithosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 89 11442-11464.
19. Maggi, A., Jackson, J. A., McKenzie, D., & Preistley, K. (2000). Earthquake focal depths, effective elastic thickness, and the strength of the continental lithosphere. Geology, 28 495-498.
20. McKenzie, D. P., & Fairhead, D. (1997). Estimates of the effective elastic thickness of the continental lithosphere from Bouguer and free-air gravity anomalies. J. Geophys. Res., 102 27523-27552.
21. Burov, E. B., & Diament, M. (1992). Flexure of the continental lithosphere with multilayered rheology. Geophys. J. Int., 109 449-468.
22. Judge, A. V., & McNutt, M. K. (1991). The relationship between plate curvature and elastic plate thickness: A study of the Peru-Chile trench. J. Geophys. Res., 96 16625-16640.
23. Walcott, R. I. (1970). Isostatic response to loading of the crust in Canada. Can. J. Earth Sci., 7 716-727.
24. Karner, G. D., & Watts, A. B. (1983). Gravity anomalies and flexure of the lithosphere at mountain ranges. J. Geophys. Res., 88 10449-10477.
25. Lyon-Caen, H., & Molnar, P. (1983). Constraints on the structure of the Himalaya from an analysis of gravity anomalies and a flexural model of the lithosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 88 8171-8191.
26. Caporali, A. (1995). Gravity anomalies and the flexure of the lithosphere in the Karakoram, Pakistan. J. Geophys. Res., 100 15075-15085.
27. Jin, Y., McNutt, M. K., & Zhu, Y. (1994). Evidence from gravity and topography data for folding in Tibet. Nature, 371 669-674.
28. Zuber, M. T., Bechtel, T. D., & Forsyth, D. W. (1989). Effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere and mechanisms of isostatic compensation in Australia. J. Geophys. Res., 94 13919-13930.
29. Kogan, M. G., Fairhead, J. D., Balmino, G., & Makedonskii, E. L. (1994). Tectonic fabric and lithospheric strength of northern Eurasia based on gravity data. Geophys. Res. Lett., 21 2653-2656.
30. Ussami, N., Côgo de Sá, N., & Molina, E. C. (1993). Gravity map of Brazil. 2. Regional and residual isostatic anomalies and their correlation with major tectonic provinces. J. Geophys. Res., 98 2199-2208.
31. Bechtel, T. D., Forsyth, D. W., Sharpton, V. L., & Grieve, R. A. (1990). Variations in effective elastic thickness of the North American lithosphere. Nature, 343 636-638.
32. Hartley, R., Watts, A. B., & Fairhead, J. D. (1996). Isostasy of Africa. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 137 1-18.
33. Forsyth, D. W. (1985). Subsurface loading and estimates of the flexural rigidity of continental lithosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 90 12623-12632.
34. Ito, G., & Taira, A. (2000). Compensation of the Ontong Java Plateau by surface and subsurface loading. J. Geophys. Res., 105 11171-11183.
35. Holt, W. E., & Stern, T. A. (1994). Subduction, platform subsidence, and foreland thrust loading: The late Tertiary development of Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Tectonics, 13 1068-1092.
36. Burov, E. B., Kogan, M. G., Lyon-Caen, H., & Molnar, P. (1990). Gravity anomalies, the deep structure, and dynamic processes beneath the Tien Shan. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 96 367-383.
37. Watts, A. B., & Fairhead, J. D. (1997). Gravity anomalies and magmatism at the British Isles continental margin. J. Geol. Soc. London, 154 523-529.
38. D. McKenzie, Estimating Te in the presence of internal loads, J. Geophys. Res. (2003) in press.
39. Lowry, A. R., & Smith, R. B. (1994). Flexural rigidity of the Basin and Range-Colorado Plateau-Rocky Mountain transition from coherence analysis of gravity and topography. J. Geophys. Res., 99 20123-20140.
40. Lowry, A. R., & Smith, R. B. (1995). Strength and rheology of the western U.S. Cordillera. J. Geophys. Res., 100 17947-17963.
41. Stewart, J., & Watts, A. B. (1997). Gravity anomalies and spatial variations of flexural rigidity at mountain ranges. J. Geophys. Res., 102 5327-5352.
42. M.G. Kogan, M.K. McNutt, Isostasy in the USSR I: Admittance data, in: K. Fuchs, C. Froidevaux, Eds., Composition, Structure, and Dynamics of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere System, Geodynamics Series 16, AGU, Washington, DC, 1987, pp. 301-307.
43. M.K. McNutt, M. Kogan, Isostasy in the USSR II: Interpretation of admittance data, in: K. Fuchs, C. Froidevaux, Eds., Composition, Structure, and Dynamics of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere System, Geodynamics Series 16, AGU, Washington, DC, 1987, pp. 309-327.
44. e in the southern Appalachians, eastern United States. J. Geophys. Res., 106 22009-22026.
45. DeMets, C., Gordon, R. G., Argus, D. F., & Stein, S. (1990). Current plate motions. Geophys. J. Int., 101 425-478.
46. Bott, M. H., & Dean, D. S. (1973). Stress diffusion from plate boundaries. Nature, 243 339-341.
47. Pasquale, V., Verdoya, M., & Chiozzi, P. (2001). Heat flux and seismicity in the Fennoscandian Shield. Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 126 147-162.
48. Poudjom-Djomani, Y. H., Fairhead, J. D., & Griffin, W. L. (1999). The flexural rigidity of Fennoscandia: reflection of the tectonothermal age of the lithospheric mantle. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 174 139-154.
49. G.D. Armstrong, A.B. Watts, Mapping flexural rigidity of the lithosphere in the eastern USA and mainland Europe, EGS Newsletter, Scientific Programme, Nice, 69 (2000).
50. Déverchère, J., Petit, C., Gileva, N., Radziminovitch, N., Melnikova, V., & San'kov, V. (2001). Depth distribution of earthquakes in the Baikal rift system and its implications for the rheology of the lithosphere. Geophys. J. Int., 146 714-739.
51. Burov, E. B., Houdry, F., Diament, M., & Déverchère, J. (1994). A broken plate beneath the North Baikal rift zone revealed by gravity modelling. Geophys. Res. Lett., 21 129-132.
52. vanderBeek, P. (1997). Flank uplift and topography at the central Baikal Rift (SE Siberia): A test of kinematic models for continental extension. Tectonics, 16 122-136.
53. Petit, C., & Ebinger, C. (2000). Flexure and mechanical behaviour of cratonic lithosphere: Gravity models of the East African and Baikal rifts. J. Geophys. Res., 105 19151-19162.
54. D.L. Turcotte, G. Schubert, Geodynamics: Applications of Continuum Physics to Geological Problems, John Wiley, New York, 1982,450 pp.
55. McAdoo, D., Martin, C. F., & Poulouse, S. (1985). Seasat observations of flexure: Evidence for a strong lithosphere. Tectonophysics, 116 209-222.
56. Molnar, P., & Lyon-Caen, H. (1988). Some simple physical aspects of the support, structure, and evolution of mountain belts. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap., 218 179-207.
57. A.T. Lin, A.B. Watts, Origin of the West Taiwan basin by orogenic loading and flexure of a rifted continental margin, J. Geophys. Res. 107 (2002)
58. Kruse, S. E., & Royden, L. H. (1994). Bending and unbending of an elastic lithosphere: The Cenozoic history of the Apennine and Dinaride foredeep basins. Tectonics, 13 278-302.
59. Cloetingh, S., & Burov, E. B. (1996). Thermomechanical structure of European continental lithosphere: constraints from rheological profiles and EET estimates. Geophys. J. Int., 124 695-723.
60. A.N.B. Poliakov, P. Cundall, Y. Podladchikov, V. Laykhovsky, An explicit inertial method for the simulation of visco-elastic flow: An evaluation of elastic effects on diapiric flow in two- or three-layers models, in: D.B. Stone, S.K. Runcorn (Eds.), Flow and Creep in the Solar System: Observations, Modelling and Theory, Dynamic Modelling and Flow in the Earth and Planets Series, 1993, pp. 175-195.
61. Burov, E. B., & Molnar, P. (1998). Gravity anomalies over the Ferghana Valley (central Asia) and intracontinental deformation. J. Geophys. Res., 103 18137-18152.
62. Burov, E. B., Houdry, F., Diament, M., & Déverchère, J. (1998). Large-scale crustal heterogeneities and lithospheric strength in cratons. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 164 205-219.
63. S. Klemperer, R. Hobbs, The BIRPS Atlas: Deep Seismic Reflection Profiles around the British Isles, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991.
64. Watts, A. B., & Zhong, S. (2000). Observations of flexure and the rheology of oceanic lithosphere. Geophys. J. Int., 142 855-875.
65. Jackson, J., & Blenkinsop, T. (1993). The Malawi earthquake of March 10, 1989: Deep faulting within the East African rift system. Tectonics, 12 1131-1139.
66. Lavier, L. L., & Steckler, M. S. (1997). The effect of sedimentary cover on the flexural strength of continental lithosphere. Nature, 389 476-479.
67. Foster, A., & Jackson, J. (1998). Source parameters of large African earthquakes: implications for crustal rheology and regional kinematics. Geophys. J. Int., 134 422-448.
68. Allen, M. B., Jones, S., Ismail-Zadah, A., Simmons, M., & Anderson, L. (2002). Onset of subduction as the cause of rapid Pliocene-Quaternary subsidence in the south Caspian basin. Geology, 30 775-778.
69. Grotzinger, J., & Royden, L. (1990). Elastic strength of the Slave craton at 1.9 Gyr and implications for the thermal evolution of the continents. Nature, 347 64-66.
70. Bird, P. (1991). Lateral extrusion of lower crust from under high topography, in the isostatic limit. J. Geophys. Res., 96 10275-10286.
71. Gratton, J. (1989). Crustal shortening, root spreading, isostasy, and the growth of orogenic belts: a dimensional analysis. J. Geophys. Res., 94 15627-15634.
72. Avouac, J. P., & Burov, E. B. (1996). Erosion as a driving mechanism of intracontinental mountain growth?. J. Geophys. Res., 101 17747-17769.
73. Beaumont, C., Ellis, S., & Pfiffner, A. (1999). Dynamics of sediment subduction-accretion at convergent margins: short-term modes, long-term deformation, and tectonic implications. J. Geophys. Res., 104 17573-17602.
74. Ellis, S., Fullsack, P., & Beaumont, C. (1995). Oblique convergence of the crust driven by basal forcing: implications for length-scales of deformation and strain partitioning in orogens. Geophys. J. Int., 120 24-44.
75. Batt, G. E., & Braun, J. (1997). On the thermomechanical evolution of compressional orogens. Geophys. J. Int., 128 364-382.
76. Chemenda, A. I., Mattauer, M., & Bokun, A. N. (1996). Continental subduction and a mechanism for exhumation of high-pressure metamorphic rocks: New modeling and field data from Oman. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 143 173-182.
77. Lambeck, K. (1983). Structure and evolution of the intra-cratonic basins of central Australia. Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 74 843-886.
78. Cloetingh, S., Burov, E., & Poliakov, A. (1999). Lithosphere folding: primary response to compression? (from central Asia to Paris Basin). Tectonics, 18 1064-1083.
79. Wessel, P., & Smith, W. H. (1991). Free software helps map and display data. EOS Trans. AGU, 72 441-446.
80. A.B. Watts, Isostasy and Flexure of the Lithosphere, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001, 458 pp.
81. Kirby, S. H., & Kronenberg, A. K. (1987). Rheology of the lithosphere: Selected topics. Rev. Geophys., 25 1219-1244.
82. Parsons, B. E., & Sclater, J. G. (1977). An analysis of the variation of ocean floor bathymetry and heat flow with age. J. Geophys. Res., 82 803-827.
83. T. Seno, Y. Yamanaka, Double seismic zones, compressional deep trench-outer rise events, and superplumes, in: G.E. Bebout, D.W. Scholl, S.H. Kirby, J.P. Platt (Eds.), Subduction Top to Bottom, Monograph 36, AGU, Washington, DC, 1996, pp.347-355.
84. Burbank, D. W. (1992). Causes of recent Himalayan uplift deduced from deposited patterns in the Ganges basin. Nature, 357 680-683.
85. Waschbusch, P. J., & Royden, L. H. (1992). Spatial and temporal evolution of foredeep basins: lateral strength variations and inelastic yielding in continental lithosphere. Basin Res., 4 179-196.
86. Lorenzo, J. M., O'Brien, G. W., Stewart, J., & Tandon, K. (1998). Inelastic yielding and forebulge shape across a modern foreland basin: North West Shelf of Australia, Timor Sea. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25 1455-1458.
87. Carter, N. L., & Tsenn, M. C. (1987). Flow properties of continental lithosphere. Tectonophysics, 136 27-63.