Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4729932 | Journal of Asian Earth Sciences | 2016 | 12 Pages |
•Gravimetric data from EGM2008 model and GOCE satellite are exploited for sub-lithospheric stress determination.•Runcorn modification in Navier Stokes formulae are initially utilized and developed further.•EGM2008 and SRTM30 models are used in order to consider the topographic/bathymetric effects in gravimetric Moho determination.•Gravimetric and seismic Moho models from EGM2008 and CRUST1.0, respectively are computed and utilized for sub-lithospheric stress computation over the Indo-Pak plate.•The joint inversion among gravimetric (EGM2008 model and GOCE real data), seismic data (CRUST1.0) and topography/bathymetry (SRTM30 model) for stress computation has performed over the area.
Sub-lithospheric stresses can be estimated by analysis of gravity field measurements. Depending on the measured gravimetric quantity, different methods can be employed to estimate those sub-lithospheric stresses. Here, we further develop the Runcorn’s theory for estimation of mantle stresses (1967) such that a Moho model and full topographic information are used to recover the function from which the stress can be computed by taking derivatives northwards and eastwards. We develop new integral equations for such a purpose and recover this function by solving those integral equations locally over the Indo-Pak (India-Pakistan) region from (1) a gravimetric Moho model computed from the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and the Earth gravity model EGM2008, (2) SRTM and the seismic Moho model of CRUST1.0 and (3) data and measurements of the GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) mission. Finally, we perform a joint inversion of seismic and GOCE data for the same purpose. The numerical results show that the use of a seismic Moho model recovers information about the stress field which is not seen in the results derived from a gravimetric Moho model. A combination of the seismic Moho model, SRTM and GOCE yields a better stress field than that of either the seismic and/or gravimetric data alone. The magnitudes of the sub-lithospheric stress are computed from the shear stress components over the area and good agreement is seen between the recovered combined stress field, the regional tectonic boundaries and the seismicity of the World Stress Map 2008 database.