Deformation of the Earth by surface loads

The static deformation of an elastic half‐space by surface pressure is reviewed. A brief mention is made of methods for solving the problem when the medium is plane stratified, but the major emphasis is on the solution for spherical, radially stratified, gravitating earth models. Love‐number calculations are outlined, and from the Love numbers, Green's functions are formed for the surface mass‐load boundary‐value problem. Tables of mass‐load Green's functions, computed for realistic earth models, are given, so that the displacements, tilts, accelerations, and strains at the earth's surface caused by any static load can be found by evaluating a convolution integral over the loaded region.