Abstract
While the first-order mechanical properties of oceanic and continental lithosphere are well defined and explain the observed increase in lithospheric flexural strength with thermal age, the temporal variation of continental flexural rigidity following loading, and its dependence on lithospheric composition and temperature structure, is only just beginning to be appreciated. We describe here the results of a quantitative Theological model in which laboratory-determined rock deformation data and transienttemperature distributions, resulting from intra-plate basin formation within continental interiors, have been integrated. Continental flexural rigidity is shown to be controlled by crustal thickness, lithospheric thickness through the temperature structure, and the interaction of these factors during basin formation. For thermally young lithosphere, the flexural rigidity is dominated by the quartzo-feldspathic theology of the crust, while for the thermally older lithosphere, it is dominated by the olivine rheology of the mantle. Flexural data, through thermo-mechanical models of lithospheric deformation, provide a powerful constraint on both the transient and steady-state temperature structure of the lithosphere.
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Kusznir, N., Karner, G. Dependence of the flexural rigidity of the continental lithosphere on rheology and temperature. Nature 316, 138–142 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316138a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316138a0
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