COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Relating Gravitational Potential Energy to Present Day Strain Rates in the Western U.S.: Observations and Models

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9725755 Jones Deformation within lithospheric plates in less well-understood than the deformations accompanying interaction between plates. Externally derived forces due to plate interactions can not be wholly responsible for the within-plate deformation, and include a contribution from lithospheric buoyancy forces. This project is aimed at assessing the contribution of lithospheric buoyancy forces to past and present deformation in the western United States, where an abundance of data may allow the various forces to quantified. The work involves a combination of extensive mathematical models coupled with various observational parameters that allow the gravitational potential energy to be estimated. Results should allow the determinations of the sensitivity of deformation to different factors such as variation of rheology and boundary forces related to plate interaction. Validation and refinement of this relationship between gravitational potential energy and deformation within a plate will improve understanding of driving forces and deformation in other parts of the world.