Although several excellent works exist that describe the effective elastic thickness (Te) of the lithosphere—its theory, significance and relevance to Earth sciences in general—none cover the details of the methods for its estimation. This book brings together the disparate knowledge required to estimate Te in one handy volume: signal processing, harmonic analysis, civil engineering, and foundational mathematics and physics, in addition to the relevant geophysics and, to a lesser extent, geology. Its two principal focus areas are spectral estimation, covering various approaches to estimating the admittance and coherence between gravity and topography using Slepian multitapers and fan wavelets; and algebraic and finite difference solutions of the plate bending partial differential equation in a variety of geological settings. This book would be suitable for postgraduate students beginning their research, up to faculty professors interested in diversifying their skills.
Isostasy, Flexure and Strength.- The Fourier Transform.- Multitaper Spectral Estimation.- The Continuous Wavelet Transform.- Admittance, Coherency and Coherence.- Map Projections.- Loading and Flexure of an Elastic Plate.- Gravity and Admittance of a Flexed Plate.- The Load Deconvolution Method.- Synthetic Testing.- Practical Te Estimation.
Jon Kirby is Associate Professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University, located in Perth, Australia. Jon was born and educated in the UK, receiving a BSc in physics from Durham University, an MSc in exploration geophysics from the University of Leeds, and a PhD in geophysical geodesy from the University of Edinburgh. Although his post-doctoral career began with geoid determination, he soon gravitated towards isostasy and lithospheric flexure, and has been publishing on the topic since 2003, notably developing a wavelet-based method to estimate effective elastic thickness.
