Synopses & Reviews
This unique book presents an overview of isostasy for graduate students and researchers in geoscience.
Review
"Dr. Watts takes us on an entertaining journey from the early ideas concerning isostasy and strength of the outer layers of the Earth to the latest space-based inferences of isostasy on the terrestrial planets...a unique book, being the first modern treatise that is fully dedicated to isostasy and how nature strives to achieve it at all length scales. Lucidly written yet mathematically rigorous, the book is beautifully illustrated and contains numerous references to the most pertinent work, and as such will serve as a valuable reference book for researchers in this important field. Intended for use as a graduate-level textbook, the fundamental importance of the subject matter is bound to make the book of great interest to a broad range of scientists studying gravity, isostasy, geodesy, tectonics, and basin analysis...a superb book which covers a lot of ground on a fundamental topic of general importance to Earth scientists." Geology Magazine
Review
"Isostacy and Flexure of the Lithosphere provides an excellent guide for those applying flexural isostacy to practical problems. It is also a starting point for those wishing to learn more about the actual physics of Earth's lithosphere." Physics Today
Review
"Accessible and authoritative, this book will be of interest to a wide range of geologists and geophysicists. For students, it would serve as an excellent companion to plate techtonics and geodynamics texts. For researchers, it provides a firm founadation for inclusion of regional isostatic principles in broad-scale tectonic scenarios and a practical base for the development of physically realistic models for the formation of local basin stratigraphy." The Leading Edge
Synopsis
Isostasy is a simple concept that students traditionally find difficult to grasp. With this in mind, the author of this unique book uses a simplified mathematical treatment, numerous examples and an extensive bibliography to make the topic accessible and easy-to-understand. Ideal for graduate students and researchers.
Table of Contents
Preface; Acknowledgments; Notation; 1. Historical development of the concept of isostasy; 2. Isostasy and flexure of the lithosphere; 3. Theory of elastic plates; 4. Geological examples of the flexure model of isostasy; 5. Isostatic response functions; 6. Isostasy and the physical nature of the lithosphere; 7. Isostasy and the origin of geological features in the continents and oceans; 8. Isostasy and the terrestrial planets; Bibliography; Index.