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

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.