On Vening Meinesz-Moritz and flexural theories of isostasy and their comparison over Tibet Plateau

Abstract Gravity and topographic/bathymetric data are used for gravimetric modelling of Moho discontinuity by hydrostatic or flexural theories of the isostasy. Here, two hydrostatic models, based on the Vening Meinesz-Moritz (VMM) principle, and two based on the loading theories and flexural isostasy are compared over Tibet Plateau. It is shown that theMoho models generated based on theVMM theory and flexural isostasy have very good agreements if the mean compensation depth and the mean elastic thickness are selected properly. However, the model computed based on the flexural isostasy is smoother. A more rigorous flexural model, which considers the membrane stress and curvature of the lithosphere, is used to model the Moho surface over the study area. It is shown that the difference between the Moho models, derived by considering and ignoring these parameters, is not significant. By combination of the flexural and VMM hydrostatic models new mathematical formulae for crustal gravity anomalies are provided and it is shown that the crustal gravity anomalies produced by them are also equivalent.