Isostasy and flexure of the lithosphere / A.B. Watts.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Watts, A. B. (Anthony Brian), 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Isostasy.

Earth (Planet)--Crust.

Earth (Planet).

Physical Description:

xviii, 458 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Summary:

This unique book presents an overview of isostasy for graduate students and researchers in geoscience.

Contents:

1 The Development of the Concept of Isostasy 1

1.2 First Isostatic Ideas 2

1.3 The Deflection of the Vertical in India 9

1.4 Isostasy According to Airy 12

1.5 Isostasy According to Pratt 14

1.6 Fisher and Dutton on Isostasy 15

1.7 The Figure of the Earth and Isostasy 17

1.8 Bowie's Illustration of Isostasy 22

1.9 The Earth's Gravity Field and Tests of Isostasy 23

1.10 Isostasy and Geological Thought 33

1.11 Nature's Great Isostatic Experiment 34

1.12 Success of the Airy and Pratt Models of Isostasy in Explaining Crustal Structure 39

1.13 Bloom's Test of Isostasy 44

2 Isostasy and Flexure of the Lithosphere 48

2.2 Gilbert and the Strength of the Earth's Crust 49

2.3 Isostasy According to Barrell 52

2.4 Bowie's Criticism of Barrell 58

2.5 Putnam and Local versus Regional Compensation 62

2.6 Vening Meinesz and the Radius of Regionality 64

2.7 Gunn and the Principle of Isobary 69

2.8 Isostasy and Plate Tectonics 75

2.9 Walcott and Flexure of the Lithosphere 83

3 Theory of Elastic Plates 87

3.2 Linear Elasticity 87

3.3 Cylindrical Bending 90

3.4 Flexure of Beams 91

3.4.1 Stresses 91

3.4.2 Shearing Force and Bending Moment 92

3.4.3 Winkler Foundation 95

3.5 Beams of Unlimited Length 96

3.5.1 Infinite Beams 97

3.5.2 Semi-infinite Beams 102

3.6 Hetenyi's Functions 108

3.7 Beams of Variable Rigidity and Restoring Force 109

3.7.1 Continuous Variation 109

3.7.2 Circular Plates 110

3.8 Thin- versus Thick-Plate Flexure 112

4 Geological Examples of the Flexure Model of Isostasy 113

4.2 Glacio-Isostatic Rebound 114

4.2.1 Late-Glacial Shorelines 119

4.2.2 The Holocene (0-12 ka) Sea-Level Problem 121

4.3 Seamounts and Oceanic Islands 125

4.4 River Deltas 150

4.5 Deep-Sea Trench and Outer-Rise Systems 162

5 Isostatic Response Functions 176

5.2 The Lithosphere as a Filter 177

5.3 The Gravitational Admittance 180

5.3.1 Uncompensated Topography 181

5.3.2 Airy Model 181

5.3.3 Pratt Model 185

5.3.4 Elastic Plate (Flexure) Model 186

5.3.5 "Buried" Loads 189

5.4 High-Order Terms 192

5.5 Isostatic Response Functions 193

5.6 Estimating Admittance, Coherence, and Isostatic Response Functions from Observations 195

5.6.1 Oceans 196

5.6.2 Continents 203

6 Isostasy and the Physical Nature of the Lithosphere 222

6.2 The Behaviour of Earth Materials 223

6.3 Flexure of a Viscoelastic Plate 225

6.4 Relationship of Elastic Parameters to Load and Plate Age 229

6.4.1 Oceans 230

6.4.2 Continents 248

6.5 Rheology of the Lithosphere 253

6.5.1 Brittle 255

6.5.2 Ductile 262

6.6 The Yield Strength Envelope 265

6.7 Time-Dependent Flexure 271

6.8 Relationship between Elastic Thickness, Curvature and Yielding 273

6.9 Elastic Thickness and Earthquakes 278

7 Isostasy and the Origin of Geological Features in the Continents and Oceans 285

7.2 Extensional Tectonics and Rifting 286

7.2.1 Continental Rifts 286

7.2.1.1 Bullard's Hypothesis 286

7.2.1.2 Vening Meinesz's Hypothesis 290

7.2.2 Oceanic Rifts 300

7.2.3 Rift-Type Basins 309

7.2.3.1 "Backstripping" 309

7.2.3.2 McKenzie's Model of Crustal and Mantle Extension 318

7.2.3.3 The Crustal Structure Produced by Rifting 321

7.2.3.4 Elastic Thickness and the Strength of Extended Continental Lithosphere 325

7.2.4 Magmatic Underplating 328

7.2.5 The Post-Rift Stratigraphy of Rift Basins 330

7.2.6 Rift Flank Uplifts and Erosional Unloading 336

7.3 Compressional Tectonics and Orogeny 339

7.3.1 Crustal Thickening 340

7.3.1.1 Shortening 341

7.3.1.2 Rheology 343

7.3.2 Orogenic Belts and Erosion 345

7.3.3 Foreland Basins 348

7.4 Strike-Slip Tectonics 361

7.4.1 Transform Faults 362

7.4.2 Fracture Zones 363

7.4.3 Transform Margins 365

7.4.4 Strike-Slip Faults 367

7.5 Intra-Plate Deformation 370

7.5.1 Intra-Cratonic Basins 370

7.5.2 Intra-Plate Volcanism, Mid-Plate Swells and Hot-Spots 376

8 Isostasy and the Terrestrial Planets 384

8.2 Moon 385

8.3 Mercury 396

8.4 Mars 398

8.5 Venus 404

8.6 Earth

Postscript 414.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0521622727

0521006007

OCLC:

45394080