From Discrete Orientations of the Principal Axes of Paleostresses to the Reconstruction of Paleostress Fields in the Elastic Lithosphere

摘要

Spatially discrete orientations of the principal axes of paleostresses in the Earth's crust can be reconstructed based on the analysis of different natural indicators. At the same time, the magnitudes of the corresponding stresses (along with the complete tensor of paleostresses T~p) cannot usually be determined. The lack of reliable boundary conditions makes it impossible to apply the standard methods of mathematical modeling to the determination of the T~p fields. In this study, we suggest a principally new approach to calculating T~p fields by employing the model of elastic homogeneous isotropic lithosphere. This approach makes direct use of experimental data on the stress orientations as input information and does not require the specification of boundary conditions.