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Wessel & Haxby 1990
Wessel, P. and Haxby, W.F. (1990). Thermal stresses, differential subsidence, and flexure at oceanic fracture zones. Journal of Geophysical Research 95: doi: 10.1029/89JB02863. issn: 0148-0227.

Geosat geoid undulations over four Pacific fracture zones, have been analyzed. After correcting for the isostatic thermal edge effect, the amplitudes of the residuals are shown to be proportional to the age offset. The shape of the residuals seems to broaden with increasing age. Both geoid anomalies and available ship bathymetry data suggest that slip must sometimes occur on the main fracture zone or secondary faults. Existing models for flexure at fracture zone cannot explain the observed anomalies. A combination model accounting for slip and including flexure from thermal stresses and differential subsidence is presented. Our model accounts for lateral variations in flexural rigidity from brittle and ductile yielding due to both thermal and flexural stresses and explains both the amplitudes and the shape of the anomalies along each fracture zone. The best fitting models have mechanical plate thicknesses that are described by the depth to the 600¿--700 ¿C isotherms. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1990

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Abstract

Keywords
Marine Geology and Geophysics, Heat flow (benthic) and hydrothermal processes, Marine Geology and Geophysics, Plate tectonics
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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