Isostasy, eustasy and crustal sensitivity

Abstract

Studies in Southern Scandinavia have revealed a “high crustal sensitivity” even to minor changes in the load of ice (glacio-isostasy) and water (hydro-isostasy). Therefore, one might expect that coast, shelves and even ocean floors were hydro-isostatically deformed by the rising ocean level after the last ice age. There are, in fact, strong indications that the increasing load in connection with the rising ocean level really deformed not only several coasts and shelves of the world but also the ocean floor in general. Therefore, “ocean volume changes” (new term) are not equivalent to eustatic changes as earlier assumed