What is isostatic compensation?

Definition of isostatic compensation : the deficiency of mass in the earth’s crust below sea level that exactly balances the mass above sea level.

What is isostasy and isostatic adjustment?

Glacial isostatic adjustment is the ongoing movement of land once burdened by ice-age glaciers. The last ice age occurred just 16,000 years ago, when great sheets of ice covered much of Earth’s Northern Hemisphere.

How isostatic adjustments affect isostasy?

isostatic adjustments can occur which erodes the mountains through the actions of wind, water, and ice. this can decrease the height and weight of a mountain range. a type of isostatic adjustment that occurs from the movement of water pushing deposited materials that adds weight to the ocean floor.

What is level of compensation in isostasy?

In the theory of isostasy, a mass above sea level is supported below sea level, and there is thus a certain depth at which the total weight per unit area is equal all around the Earth; this is known as the depth of compensation.

What isostatic means?

equilibrium
adjective. Geology. Characterized by or involving the equilibrium that exists between parts of the earth’s crust. ‘isostatic depression of the earth’s crust’

What is an isostatic?

6.1 Isostatic equilibrium. Isostasy is an equilibrium between the Earth’s crust and its upper mantle, which properties the crust should have for being in equilibrium. Isostasy represents in fact the relation between the crust and the upper mantle so that the Earth’s crust is in an equilibrium state.

What is an example of Isostasy?

Isostasy describes vertical movement of land to maintain a balanced crust. Greenland is an example of isostasy in action. The Greenland land mass is mostly below sea level because of the weight of the ice cap that covers the island. If the ice cap melted, the water would run off and raise sea level.

How does isostatic adjustment occur?

When the planet warms and ice melts, this water is returned to the ocean basins (causing a rise in sea level). Over the 20,000 years since the last glacial maximum, the land masses, relieved of their burden of ice, have gradually rebounded. This rebound is called Glacial Isostatic Adjustment or GIA.

Where do isostatic adjustments occur?

Isostatic adjustments occur in areas where rivers carrying a large load flow into large bodies of water, such as an ocean. Most of the material that the river carries is deposited on the ocean floor. The added weight to the area causes the ocean floor to sink by isostatic adjustment in a process called subsidence.

What is the difference between eustatic and isostatic?

Isostatic change is a local sea level change whereas eustatic change is a global sea level change. During an ice age, isostatic change is caused by the build up of ice on the land. When the ice melts at the end of an ice age, the land begins to rise up again and the sea level falls.

What does isostatic mean in geography?

1. Isostatic uplift is the process by which land rises out of the sea due to tectonic activity. It occurs when a great weight is removed from the land, e.g., the melting of an ice cap. Eustatic changes are the dropping of sea levels when eater is locked away as ice, and its rising as it melts.

What is an example of isostasy?

What is isotisostatic compensation?

isostatic compensation. noun. : the deficiency of mass in the earth’s crust below sea level that exactly balances the mass above sea level.

How does isostasy affect the landscape?

Isostasy affects landscape in much the same way as tectonic stress. That is, through uplift and subsidence. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult to separate uplift/subsidence brought on by isostatic changes from those brought on directly by tectonic activity. This problem is addressed in Chapter 7.

Is isostasy a secondary forcing agent?

Climate activates erosion and deposition and can cause glaciation. Given its dependence on climate and tectonic stress, we will consider isostasy to be a secondary forcing agent. Sea level change can also redistribute weight and thus also cause isostatic changes.

How does isostasy react to tectonic and climatic processes?

As summarized in Fig. 5.1, isostasy reacts to tectonic and climatic processes by activating uplift and subsidence. Although it is possible for isostatic changes to occur in the absence of a climate system (through tectonic processes), isostatic changes cannot activate erosion and deposition without an active climate.