Stress and shear fracture (fault) patterns resulting from a suite of complicated boundary conditions with applications to the Wind River Mountains

The Airy stress function is used, via the Principle of Superposition and the series summation concept, to obtain stress states in a static, self-gravitating elastic beam subjected to boundary stresses. The boundary conditions investigated are more complicated than those previously published and include cases with sawtooth-, step-, and sinusoidally-shaped lower-boundary loads, with and without additional tectonic end leads. Potential shear fracture (fault) patterns derived from the calculated stress fields indicate co-existing (simultaneous) regions of lateral shortening and extension. Application of one of the cases to the study of the structural geometry of the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming yields a good 'fit' and forms a possible explanation for the observed rotations and zones of shortening and extension.