Willi Freeden, E. Groten, Michael Schreiner, W. Söhhne, M. Tüccks

• The static deformation of the surface of the earth caused by surface pressure like the water load of an ocean or an artificial lake is discussed. First a brief mention is made on the solution of the Boussenesq problem for an infinite halfspace with the elastic medium to be assumed as homogeneous and isotropic. Then the elastic response for realistic earth models is determinied by spline interpolation using Navier splines. Major emphasis is on the derteminination of the elastic field caused by water loads from surface tractions on the (real) earth" s surface. Finally the elastic deflection of an artificial lake assuming a homogeneous isotropic crust is compared for both evaluation methods.