Overburden pressure

Overburden pressure, also called lithostatic pressure, confining pressure or vertical stress, is the pressure or stress imposed on a layer of soil or rock by the weight of overlying material.

The overburden pressure at a depth z is given by

$p(z) = p_0 + g \int_{0}^{z} \rho(z) \, dz$

where ρ(z) is the density of the overlying rock at depth z and g is the acceleration due to gravity. p₀ is the datum pressure, the pressure at the surface.

In deriving the above equation it is assumed that gravitational acceleration g is a constant over z, since it is placed outside the integral. In reality, g is a (non-constant) function of z and should appear inside the integral. But since g varies little over depths which are a very small fraction of the Earth's radius, it is placed outside the integral in practice for most near-surface applications which require an assessment of lithostatic pressure. In deep-earth geophysics/geodynamics, gravitational acceleration varies significantly over depth and g may not be assumed to be constant.

This should be compared with the equivalent concept of hydrostatic pressure in hydrodynamics.

See also

• Sedimentary rock
• Effective stress
• Pore water pressure