Lithospheric flexure is bending of a mechanically strong outer shell under loads. A flat elastic plate approximation balances bending, buoyancy and applied loading. In the Fourier domain, bending contributes a term proportional to the flexural rigidity times the fourth power of horizontal wavenumber; it therefore suppresses short-wavelength deflection particularly strongly.
The effective elastic thickness is the thickness of a homogeneous elastic plate with the same effective bending stiffness as the loaded lithosphere. In an isotropic thin-plate model, , with Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio . It depends on thermal state, material creep, loading history and yielding, and is not generally the crust's thickness or the full thermal thickness.
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Lithospheric flexure refers to the bending or deformation of the Earth's lithosphere (the rigid outer layer of the Earth) in response to various forces, such as sediment loading, tectonic activity, or glacial weight. This phenomenon occurs when the lithosphere behaves elastically, meaning it can deform under stress but will not yield permanently like more ductile layers below it, such as the asthenosphere.