A comparison of the estimated effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere using terrestrial and satellite-derived data in Iran

The effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere has an important role in constraining compositional structure, geothermal gradient and tectonic forces within the lithosphere and the thickness of this layer can be used to evaluate the earthquakes’ focal depth. Hence, assessment of the elastic thickness of the lithosphere by gravitational admittance method in Iran is the main objective of this paper. Although the global geopotential models estimated from the satellite missions and surface data can portray the Earth’s gravity field in high precision and resolution, there are some debates about using them for lithosphere investigations. We used both the terrestrial data which have been provided by NCC (National Cartographic Center of Iran) and BGI (Bureau Gravimetrique International), and the satellite-derived gravity and topography which are generated by EIGEN-GL04C and ETOPO5, respectively. Finally, it is concluded that signal content of the satellite-derived data is as rich as the terrestrial one and it can be used for the determination of the lithosphere bending.