TITLE:
Equilibrium Elastic Stress Field of the Earth’s Solid Shell
AUTHORS:
Alexander Ivanchin
KEYWORDS:
Stress and Pressure in Lithosphere
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.5 No.4,
April
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: In modern geophysics, hydrostatic
dependence of pressure on the depth in the lithosphere is postulated. It is
considered evident and requiring no proof. As shown in the present work, the
above postulate is erroneous. Proceeding from one of the fundamental laws of
physics related to the minimum of potential energy in the equilibrium state,
one can derive a nonhydrostatic solution of the elasticity equation with
minimum elastic energy referred to as a Gravitational Equilibrium Field with an
energy by an order of magnitude less than the hydrostatic field energy. The
Earth’s solid shell like a bearing structure carries its own weight, which
reduces the pressure on the surface of the liquid nucleus down to zero. The
influence of solidity in the subsurface region of the Earth is characteristic.
As the calculation shows, although the rock density in the crust is thrice as
much as that of the water, the pressure in the ocean at the same depth is
higher than the pressure in the solid crust, which is an account for the
existence of land. If there was a hydrostatic stress distribution, the pressure
under the continents would be thrice as much as that in the ocean and the
continents would descend below sea level.