Deformations of a viscoelastic lithosphere Volker Klemann (WWU Münster), Detlef Wolf (GFZ Potsdam) The present study is restricted to plane, compressible, viscoelastic earth models and differentiates between the contributions of the individual terms in the incremental equation of motion to the solution for load-induced deformation. Neglecting the gravitational-mechanical coupling and inertial forces in the equation of motion, this equation expresses the balance between three force terms: 1. viscoelastic stress, 2. advected initial stress and 3. internal buoyancy. We investigate the following combinations: term 1 + term 2 (initial stress) and term 1 + term 2 + term 3 (initial stress + internal buoyancy). For comparison, we also consider the incompressible case. We investigate the general properties of the solutions for a uniform viscoelastic half-space and discuss the adequacy of the normal-mode expansion for the different cases. We also consider an elastic layer overlying a fluid half-space and study the influence of the individual terms on the vertical and horizontal displacements. Finally, we consider an elastic half-space and investigate their influence on the incremental gravity.