lithostatic pressure

physical science

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June 30, 2026

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Lithostatic pressure is the stress exerted on a body of rock by surrounding rock, analogous to hydrostatic pressure in fluids. This pressure increases with depth below Earth's surface. It is primarily caused by the weight of overlying rocks. For typical crustal rock densities, one kilobar of lithostatic pressure is generated by approximately 3.5 km of overlying rock. Changes in lithostatic pressure occur due to burial (from sediment deposition or tectonic loading) or uplift (from erosion or tectonic thinning). Fluids trapped within rocks can also exert pressure, which at shallow depths is less than lithostatic pressure due to the lower density of fluids compared to rocks.12

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Applications to petrology
…melts as a function of lithostatic pressure; this pressure is due to depth of burial. The two short lines show the approximate position of a transition region between gabbro and its denser solid equivalent, eclogite (a sodium-pyroxene + garnet rock). The melting curves have a positive slope, as the solids…
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…melts as a function of lithostatic pressure; this pressure is due to depth of burial. The two short lines show the approximate position of a transition region between gabbro and its denser solid equivalent, eclogite (a sodium-pyroxene + garnet rock). The melting curves have a positive slope, as the solids…
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pressure
Lithostatic pressure, the stress exerted on a body of rock by surrounding rock, is a pressure in Earth’s crust somewhat analogous to hydrostatic pressure in fluids. Lithostatic pressure increases with depth below Earth’s surface.
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Lithostatic pressure, the stress exerted on a body of rock by surrounding rock, is a pressure in Earth’s crust somewhat analogous to hydrostatic pressure in fluids. Lithostatic pressure increases with depth below Earth’s surface.
Read More