Isostatic compensation in Western Anatolia with estimate of the effective elastic thickness

Isostasy is concerned with how the crust and mantle adjusts to shifting loads of limited spatial and temporal dimensions. By analysing the frequency content of gravity and topography data, it has been possible to determine the compensation scheme of a region. In this study, the compensation mechanism of the Western Anatolia, which has dynamic loads, was investigated by isostatic response functions. Effective elastic thickness in Western Anatolia region was estimated based on admittance and coherence between gravity and topography data. The two most reliable indicators of lithospheric strength are the focal depth distribution of earthquakes and relation of gravity anomalies with topography. For this reason, the seismogenic thickness and thermal structure of Western Anatolia was correlated with the effective elastic thickness. The results of this study showed that the strength of the lithosphere of the Western Anatolia resided in average 6 km.