diff --git a/src/read_input_file.f90 b/src/read_input_file.f90
index 6ea4b32debc97e0db4bb41df020498bc57a0230e..0e37c2535cb2f7ed815dd508fbc4a171973064f4 100644
--- a/src/read_input_file.f90
+++ b/src/read_input_file.f90
@@ -890,6 +890,14 @@ endif
 call mpi_bcast(params%flexure,1,mpi_logical,0,mpi_comm_world,ierr)
 write(threadinfo%Logunit,*) 'flexure',params%flexure
 
+params%isobc=.false. 
+if (iproc==0) then 
+   call scanfile (params%infile,'isobc',answer,ires)  
+   params%isobc=(trim(answer)=='T') 
+end if 
+call mpi_bcast(params%isobc,1,mpi_logical,0,mpi_comm_world,ierr) 
+write(threadinfo%Logunit,*) 'isobc',params%isobc 
+
 params%elastic_plate_thickness=20.d3
 if (iproc==0) call scanfile (params%infile,'elastic_plate_thickness',params%elastic_plate_thickness,ires)
 call mpi_bcast(params%elastic_plate_thickness,1,mpi_double_precision,0,mpi_comm_world,ierr)