Patagonian Mountains Showing Growth Spike Of 1.5 Inches/Yr - Isostatic Rebound As Glaciers Melt

[hatrack]

Mountains along the southernmost swath of South America are growing taller at a record rate, say researchers, who attribute the growth to the accelerating loss of glaciers there. The new GPS-based measurements from Patagonia's southern ice field show that between 2003 and 2006 the mountains grew at a rate of 39 millimeters (1.5 inches) per year. The discovery was reported in the latest issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

"Before I saw this article I would have said the highest rate (of mountain growth) was at Glacier Bay, Alaska," said Bruce Molnia, a veteran glacier researcher and geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. In 2005, similar measurements at Glacier Bay found the mountains there rising at a rate of 32 (1.3 inches) millimeters per year.

Such an exceptional rate of mountain growth is being tied to the powerful tectonic forces building the mountains as well as what's called "isostatic rebound" of the crust when the heavy weight of glaciers is removed. In other words, the mountainous crust of the Earth in Patagonia is literally springing up like a hammock that's being relieved of a load.

The cause of all that ice unloading? You guessed it: the warming climate. "In Patagonia, glaciers are retreating faster now than they have ever retreated formerly," said Erik Ivins of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a co-author on the Patagonia article.

EDIT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35105622/ns/us_news-environment

[Warpy]

1. The Great Lakes are tilting because there is less ice up north

I think we're going to see earthquakes in regions long considered geologically stable as well as in areas we know are not as the continents shift and wriggle under so much less weight.

[TxRider]

2. The great lakes

Are still rebounding from mile thick ice that was on them thousands of years ago.

[XemaSab]

3. .

[bhikkhu]

4. I was wondering if this was correct...

...and found that it is supported by an article from 2005:

"Present rapid isostatic rebound related to the continental ice cap retreat in the Patagonian Andes is restricted to the region south of Chile triple junction (46°30′S). The uplift rate here is more than two times more rapid than normal isostatic rebounds recorded in the Northern Hemisphere..."

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V72-4FDJRRB-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F27%2F2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1186869168&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=bcb79eb2d089badf8a5545525e2ebcf4