Characteristics of global gravitational potential energy and its geological significance analysis based on the Crust1.0 model
Gravitational potential energy and its differences are one of the main methods to analyze the characteristics of lithospheric mean stress caused by density variation within the lithosphere.In this paper,we analyze the distribution characteristics of global gravitational potential energy and their differences,and also obtain more precise results on global scale based on Crust1.0 model.The results using different mantle density models including constant density,transversal variable density and three-dimensional variable density are compared.The results show that the tensile stress and high gravitational potential energy occur in western North America,the Andes,eastern Africa and Tibetan Plateau,while the compressive stress and low gravitational potential energy occur in the ocean basin and the basin around the plateau.By comparing the results of different mantle density models,we found that the oceanic crust is thin,and the lithospheric mantle density varies greatly under the influence of tectonic movement and heat,which contributes a lot to the gravitational potential energy.In continental region,the thick crust contributes a lot to the gravitational potential energy,but the change of mantle density has relatively less impact.The distribution of the global gravitational potential energy differences obtained by the 3D variable density mantle model is similar to that obtained by the global geoid anomaly,which indicates that the results of this model are more consistent with the global lithospheric stress distribution.The differences of gravitational potential energy calculated by 3D variable density mantle model in the mid-ocean ridge axis tends to zero,indicating that the variation of lithospheric density has little influence on stress,and the tensile stress is more related to mantle upwelling in mid-ocean ridge area.
Gravitational potential energyLithospheric density structureGeoidLithospheric stress field
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NSTL
万方数据
