Displacement and stress produced by a pressurised cylindrical magma chamber surrounded by a viscoelastic shell and an elastic medium

Abstract

The elastic solution for the displacement and stress due to a pressurized cylindrical cavity surrounded by a viscoelastic shell and an unbounded elastic medium is first obtained. The viscoelastic solution is then obtained by using the correspondence principle of linear viscoelasticity, assuming the shell to be elastic dilatational and Maxwell deviatoric. The variation of the displacement and stress fields with distance and with time is studied. It is found that in the case of a cylindrical magma chamber there are two 'chahcteristic times, in contrast to only one characteristic time for a spherical magma chamber.