Closed form analytic expressions for displacement and stresses at any point of either of the two homogeneous, isotropic, perfectly elastic half-spaces in welded contact due to very long strike-slip dislocations are obtained. Both cases of vertical and horizontal strike-slip dislocations are discussed in detail. Variation of the displacement with horizontal distance from the fault and with vertical distance from the interface for a vertical strike-slip fault is studied numerically.

The postseismic lithospheric deformation is usually explained as viscoelastic relaxation of the coseismic stresses. In general, for computing the postseismic deformation, the shear modulus (μ) is relaxed, keeping either the bulk modulus (k) or the La’me parameter (A) fixed. It is shown that the two assumptions yield significantly different results. The assumptionk = const. implies that the medium behaves like an elastic body for dilatational changes which can be justified on physical grounds, but such a justification cannot be given in the case of the assumption λ = const.