Reply #10: I think it's called "Isostasy" [View All]

[Dogmudgeon]

"Triggering" faults has always been a topic of controversy in geological circles, so the theory is about to get some serious testing. The whole Pacific Ring of Fire has been more active in the last year. Granted, it's not about to blow a hole in the Earth, but it's a significant change. The isostasy (sometimes it's also called isostasis) that happened 18 kYA - 12 kYA resulted in a lot of geographic changes aside from the disappearance of the ice sheets and the increase of sea levels.

We should also expect more seismic activity around Antarctica. While the ice is melting at the "edges" of that continent, the center is, for some reason, piling up ice. (I think it's because of stronger atmospheric convection bringing more water vapor and, ergo, snow to the pole.) That will only happen in the Arctic when something happens to destabilize the air inversion over the pole -- something like the loss of the many "minor" thermohaline currents that regulate temperature in Europe and the "hyperborean" lower Arctic.

Of course, when the Arctic inversion collapses, we'll probably be much too busy worrying about blizzards and floods to give much notice to earthquakes.

--p!