The correspondence between gravitational attraction and surface displacement due to volume expansion

Abstract

Summary. It is shown that the formulas for the calculation of surface displacement due to a volume source in a half‐space may be derived from a potential of the same form as the gravitational potential. The similarity between these expressions allows the use of methods developed for gravity in the study of surface displacement. As an example of the applicability of the correspondence, an efficient algorithm is developed for the calculation of uplift due to volume expansion within a homogeneous half‐space. The method may be generalized to three‐dimensional volumes undergoing expansion in a half‐space. Copyright © 1987, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved