Large-scale lithospheric stress field and topography induced by global mantle circulation

Steinberger, Bernhard; Schmeling, Harro; Marquart, Gabriele

doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(01)00229-1

Cited by 150 publications

(200 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

178

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This first-order stress pattern (long wavelength) is dynamically supported, as the controlling forces correlate well with the forces driving the plate motion in most continental areas such as North and South Americas and Europe (Solomon et al, 1980;Richardson, 1992;Zoback, 1992). Ghosh and Holt (2012) and Steinberger et al (2001) used different approaches to show that the contribution of the crust (shallow density structures) to the overall lithospheric stress pattern is rather small compared to that of the mantle A number of studies (Čadek and Fleitout, 2003;Forte and Mitrovica, 2001;Garcia-Castellanos and Cloetingh, 2011;Ghosh and Holt, 2012;Steinberger et al, 2001) have presented numerical simulations of different geophysical processes and compared their model results with observations of the lithosphere stress field, dynamic geoid, plate motion velocity and dynamic topography to better understand what processes control these surface observables. For instance, the modeled dynamic geoid typically gives a good correlation with observations, due to a large contribution of the lower mantle (Čadek and Fleitout, 2003;5 Hager et al, 1985;Richards and Hager, 1984), but is sensitive to the choice of the mantle viscosity (Thoraval and Richards, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Furthermore, on a global scale, the intra-plate stress orientation follows a specific pattern at a longer wavelength due to a large 15 force contribution from the convecting mantle (Steinberger et al, 2001;Lithgow-Bertelloni and Guynn, 2004). This first-order stress pattern (long wavelength) is dynamically supported, as the controlling forces correlate well with the forces driving the plate motion in most continental areas such as North and South Americas and Europe (Solomon et al, 1980;Richardson, 1992;Zoback, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

Tutu¹,

Steinberger²,

Sobolev³

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. The orientation and tectonic regime of the observed crustal/lithospheric stress field contribute to our knowledge of different deformation processes occurring within the Earth's crust and lithosphere. In this study, we analyze the influence of the thermal and density structure of the upper mantle on the lithospheric stress field and topography. We use a 3D lithosphereasthenosphere numerical model with power-law rheology, coupled to a spectral mantle flow code at 300 km depth. Our results are validated against the World Stress Map 2016 and the observation-based residual topography. We derive the upper mantle 5 thermal structure from either a heat flow model combined with a sea floor age model (TM1) or a global S-wave velocity model (TM2). We show that lateral density heterogeneities in the upper 300 km have a limited influence on the modeled horizontal stress field as opposed to the resulting dynamic topography that appears more sensitive to such heterogeneities. There is hardly any difference between the stress orientation patterns predicted with and without consideration of the heterogeneities in the upper mantle density structure across North America, Australia, and North Africa. In contrast, we find that the dynamic 10 topography is to a greater extent controlled by the upper mantle density structure. After correction for the chemical depletion of continents, the TM2 model leads to a much better fit with the observed residual topography giving a correlation of 0.51 in continents, but this correction leads to no significant improvement in the resulting lithosphere stresses. In continental regions with abundant heat flow data such as, for instant, Western Europe, TM1 results in relatively a small angular misfits of 18.30

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

Tutu¹,

Steinberger²,

Sobolev³

et al. 2017

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Bai et al [1992] and Bird [1998], and more recently Steinberger et al [2001] and Lithgow-Bertelloni and Guynn [2004], have modeled the lithospheric stress field by combining the above two sources. In most of these studies, the modeled stress field was compared with stress observations from the World Stress Map (WSM) [Zoback, 1992;Reinecker et al, 2005].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Joint modeling of lithosphere and mantle dynamics elucidating lithosphere‐mantle coupling

Ghosh

Holt

Wen

et al. 2008

Geophysical Research Letters

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We provide new insights into the lithosphere‐mantle coupling problem through a joint modeling of lithosphere dynamics and mantle convection and through comparison of model results with the high resolution velocity gradient tensor model along the Earth's plate boundary zones. Using a laterally variable effective viscosity lithosphere model, we compute depth integrated deviatoric stresses associated with both gravitational potential energy (GPE) differences and deeper mantle density buoyancy‐driven convection. When deviatoric stresses from horizontal basal tractions, associated with deeper density buoyancy‐driven convective circulation of the mantle, are added to those from GPE differences, the fit between the model deviatoric stress field and the deformation indicators improves dramatically in most areas of continental deformation. We find that the stresses induced by the horizontal tractions arising from deep mantle convection contribute approximately 50% of the magnitude of the Earth's deviatoric lithospheric stress field. We also demonstrate that lithosphere‐asthenosphere viscosity contrasts and lateral variations within the lithospheric plate boundary zones play an important role in generating the right direction and magnitude of tractions that yield an optimal match between deviatoric stress tensor patterns and the deformation indicators.

show abstract

“…These tectonic forces as well as the lithospheric load, volcanism, elasticity of the lithosphere, viscosity of the asthenosphere, and other rheological parameters and geodynamic/geological processes contribute to the overall stress state of the lithosphere. Some authors suggested that the origin of large-scale lithospheric stresses is mainly aligned to a frictional drag due to global mantle flow (e.g., Hager and O'Connell 1981;Steinberger et al 2001), while others argue that the lithospheric stresses are attributed mainly to the lithospheric plate boundary and body forces (Ricard et al 1984;Bai et al 1992;Jurdy and Stefanick 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After a rapid expansion of global seismic networks and a development of space techniques for a precise determination of plate motions (such as VLBI, GPS), seismic tomography data and global tectonic plate motion models become preferably used to model tectonic stresses. Among existing studies we could mention earlier works by Richardson et al (1979), Richardson (1992), and Bai et al (1992), or more recent studies by Steinberger et al (2001), Lithgow-Bertelloni and Guynn (2004), and Naliboff et al (2009, 2012. Furthermore, bore-hole breakouts, hydraulic fracturing, volcanic alignment, seismic focal mechanisms, heat flow on faults, transform fault azimuths, and other in situ stress measurements were also used to investigate and predict the global stress pattern (Zoback and Zoback 1991;Sperner et al 2003;Heidbach et al 2007Heidbach et al , 2010 and to compile the World Stress Map Database (Zoback 1992;Heidbach et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithospheric Stress Tensor from Gravity and Lithospheric Structure Models

Eshagh

Tenzer

2017

Pure Appl. Geophys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-In this study we investigate the lithospheric stresses computed from the gravity and lithospheric structure models. The functional relation between the lithospheric stress tensor and the gravity field parameters is formulated based on solving the boundary-value problem of elasticity in order to determine the propagation of stresses inside the lithosphere, while assuming the horizontal shear stress components (computed at the base of the lithosphere) as lower boundary values for solving this problem. We further suppress the signature of global mantle flow in the stress spectrum by subtracting the long-wavelength harmonics (below the degree of 13). This numerical scheme is applied to compute the normal and shear stress tensor components globally at the Moho interface. The results reveal that most of the lithospheric stresses are accumulated along active convergent tectonic margins of oceanic subductions and along continent-to-continent tectonic plate collisions. These results indicate that, aside from a frictional drag caused by mantle convection, the largest stresses within the lithosphere are induced by subduction slab pull forces on the side of subducted lithosphere, which are coupled by slightly less pronounced stresses (on the side of overriding lithospheric plate) possibly attributed to trench suction. Our results also show the presence of (intra-plate) lithospheric loading stresses along Hawaii islands. The signature of ridge push (along divergent tectonic margins) and basal shear traction resistive forces is not clearly manifested at the investigated stress spectrum (between the degrees from 13 to 180).

show abstract

Large-scale lithospheric stress field and topography induced by global mantle circulation

Cited by 150 publications

References 19 publications

Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

Effects of upper mantle heterogeneities on lithospheric stress field and dynamic topography

Joint modeling of lithosphere and mantle dynamics elucidating lithosphere‐mantle coupling

Lithospheric Stress Tensor from Gravity and Lithospheric Structure Models

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About