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Isostatic Adjustment

Year: 0 | Deflection: 0 m

Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA)

Ice sheets depress Earth's crust into the viscous mantle. Under load, the crust sinks and mantle flows outward, creating a forebulge. When ice melts, the crust slowly rebounds over thousands of years. Scandinavia is still rising ~1 cm/yr from the last ice age, 10,000 years after deglaciation.