LIFFE v1: Lithospheric Flexure with Finite Elements Mariano S. Arnaiz-Rodríguez (marianoarnaiz@gmail.com) Juan Carlos Álvarez Franck Audemard

We present LIFFE (LIthospheric Flexure with Finite Elements), a platform designed to perform lithospheric flexure. LIFFE is an easy-to-use, flexible, open-source, cross-platform, an efficient and effective tool to simulate flexure, modeling a laterally heterogeneous lithosphere affected by a complex load system. This platform can be used to further understand geodynamic and surface processes such as mountain building, sedimentary basin formation, glaciation and sea-level change. LIFFE is a Matlab set of codes that allows to consider elastic thickness (Te) variations, previous deformation (variations on the plate shape), complex load systems (applied to any surface of the plate), temperature effects and decoupled infill loads. In-plane (xy) and principle stresses, gravity anomalies and models are plotted as standard outputs for a profound interpretation of the flexure. These characteristics make LIFFE a powerful tool for better describing the behavior of the elastic outer shell of Earth under loads.
Key words: Lithospheric flexure, Finite elements, Isostasy, Gravity, Matlab.

THIS IS AN OPEN ACCESS CODE THAT IS DISTRIBUTED FOR ACADEMIC PORPOISES. PLEASE IF YOU ARE USING IT CONTACT THE LEAD AUTHOR TO KEEP TRACK OF HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE USING IT.

YOU NEED MATLAB 2014b or higher to run LIFFE v1.

This folder contains:

• Example1, Example2 and Example3: This are 3 directories that contain ALL the files needed to run the examples presented in the paper.
• Extras: Contains a simple file to create a empty loads.txt file and a directory with the information to create Figure 7 in the paper.
• This readme.txt file
• Manual.pdf: A document explaning how to use the code.