Elastic deformation resulting from internal mass loading: semi-analytical solution

Abstract

SUMMARY Numerous physical processes are responsible for mass exchange between the surface and the interior of the Earth, including but not limited to the conversion of surface water and groundwater, volcanic eruptions and the consequent outflow of magma to the surface, and underground mining of mineral resources, among others. These mass transport phenomena influence the deformation of the Earth's crust. In this study, we extend the conventional loading theory to analyse the extent of crustal deformation by obtaining Green's functions due to internal mass loading in a layered elastic spherical earth model. For the surface source and internal source, the displacement and gravity change show significant differences within a specific horizontal range several times the source depth. Compared with other physical quantities, horizontal displacement is more sensitive to source depth. Furthermore, the utilization of a disc-like load example serves to illustrate the distinctions in displacement deformation between internal and surface loadings. We also published the code for calculating Green's function for internal mass loading in the public repository GitHub.