Variations in effective elastic thickness of the North American lithosphere
Abstract
A technique for estimating flexural rigidity that is not limited to sedimentary basins is used here to map variations in the effective elastic thickness of the North American lithosphere. The effective elastic thickness ranges from a minimum of about 4 km in the Basin and Range Province to more than 100 km in the Precambrian core of the continent. This finding supports the idea that flexural rigidity has increased with time since the last thermal event.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- February 1990
- DOI:
- 10.1038/343636a0
- Bibcode:
- 1990Natur.343..636B
- Keywords:
-
- Lithosphere;
- North America;
- Plates (Tectonics);
- Earth Surface;
- Elastic Properties;
- Topography;
- Geophysics