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Late Quaternary vertical movements in eastern North America: Quantitative evidence of glacio‐isostatic rebound
Author(s) -
Walcott R. I.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
reviews of geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.087
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1944-9208
pISSN - 8755-1209
DOI - 10.1029/rg010i004p00849
Subject(s) - geology , sea level , ice sheet , quaternary , post glacial rebound , anomaly (physics) , geodesy , oceanography , physical geography , paleontology , geography , physics , condensed matter physics
From 18,000 to 6500 years ago the ice sheets covering North America melted, and sea level rose almost 100 meters. Since that time, sea level has remained almost constant, but the earth has not yet completed its adjustment to the removal of the ice load. In the center of the uplifted region the ground has risen 138 meters in the last 6000 years and is rising at a rate of 2 ± 0.5 cm/yr today; there may be another 300 ± 120 meters of vertical motion left before isostatic equilibrium is reached. This review collects the evidence of vertical movements in northern and eastern North America from different sources and disciplines to provide in one publication the quantitative data important for geophysical analyses of glacio‐isostatic rebound. The paper covers evidence from the area of uplift and the peripheral zone of submergence and from the past movements and instrumentally recorded recent trends, provides a discussion of the eustatic rise in sea level, and gives an updated free‐air gravity anomaly map of the deglaciated region.