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Glacier shrinkage and modeled uplift of the Alps
Author(s) -
Barletta V. R.,
Ferrari C.,
Diolaiuti G.,
Carnielli T.,
Sabadini R.,
Smiraglia C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl026490
Subject(s) - geology , glacier , geomorphology , glacier ice accumulation , viscoelasticity , tectonic uplift , crust , shrinkage , tectonics , ice stream , physical geography , climatology , cryosphere , seismology , geophysics , sea ice , physics , machine learning , computer science , geography , thermodynamics
Present day glacier reduction in the Alps, estimated from glacier inventories and induced viscoelastic response of a stratified Earth's model, is responsible for sizable uplift rates. Patches of 0.4–0.5 mm/yr, due to ice mass loss of largest ice complexes, overprint a characteristic area of slower uplift of 0.1–0.2 mm/yr, signature of the phenomenon in the whole Alpine chain. Viscous stress relaxation in the lower crust, due to glacier mass loss after the end of the Little Ice Age, is expected to produce uplift rates of 0.32 mm/yr, leading to a total viscoelastic response up to 0.8 mm/yr. Our predictions in the western Alps show that viscoelastic response to present day glacier shrinkage forms a substantial fraction (half) of the observed uplift data. Attempts to constrain the contributions arising from active Alpine tectonics and drainage must account for this uplift signal.