Sentence:  Second, the unusually thick (2 to 5 km, Berry and Barr, 1971; Hall, 1973; Grantz et al., 1979) sediment cover in Canada Basin may serve to <WSD>downflex</WSD> the underlying oceanic crust and produce a greater than normal state of stress across the adjacent margin which is presently coupled to the seafloor basement. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To force downward without breaking.