Isostasy is the
vertical readjustment of the surface of the earth due to the addition or removal of weight.
Principles that apply to a floating object (taken from
http://www-ocean.tamu.edu/~wormuth/labhtml/isostasy.html
:
-
gravity pulls down on the object, displacing fluid
-
gravity also tries to force fluid back into its original place (the place occupied by the object)
- this creates an upward force, i.e. a buoyant force
- isostasy occurs when the buoyant force is equal to the gravitational force, i.e. isostatic equilibrium
Isostasy is commonly associated with the advance and retreat of glaciers. During these times, water is stored in massive ice sheets. In the theory of isostasy, a mass above sea level is supported by the same mass below sea level, so the huge weight from
ice causes the land to subside. Once the ice melts, the land
rebounds slowly overtime.
Think of a glass of ice and water. Push down one piece of ice, you'll see the other
cubes rise with the water. When you remove the pressure the other cubes sink and the piece of ice you were pushing down slowly rises to the height of the other cubes.
Evidence supporting the idea of isostasy comes from
Scandanavia. During the
Pleistocene ice ages, the land there was once covered by a sheet of ice 3 kilometers thick, weighing down the
crust. The ice melted some tens of thousands of years ago, and the crust is still rising slowly because isostatic balance has not yet been attained. In other areas formerly covered by ice sheets (around
Hudson Bay and the coastline of Norway, for example), sea
cliffs and beach ridges are now found nearly 300 m (1000 feet) above sea level.