Dear authors,

thank you very much for the extremely careful and thorough revision of your manuscript which is now a real pleasure to read. It is very clear, insightful and beautifully illustrated.

There is one minor detail that caught my attention: You state several times that stress may localize in plate interiors. Shouldn´t that better read "strain" to acknowledge that inversion reflects some combination of stress concentration and mechanical weakness as your manuscript so convincingly demonstrates?
I leave that decision to you, though. I guess you had your share of terminology debates during the revision process.

Thank you for contributing your work to the Special Issue!

Jonas

Dear Authors,

Thank you for the thorough revision of your manuscript. I am pleased to accept your manuscript for publication in Solid Earth. I have marked it as 'Publish subject to technical corrections' to give you a chance to consider the suggestion by the Topical Editor Jonas Kley:

"There is one minor detail that caught my attention: You state several times that stress may localize in plate interiors. Shouldn´t that better read "strain" to acknowledge that inversion reflects some combination of stress concentration and mechanical weakness as your manuscript so convincingly demonstrates?"

As Jonas writes, we leave the decision regarding this terminology with you.

Thank you for submitting your work to Solid Earth.

With best wishes,
Susanne Buiter
Executive Editor Solid Earth