Research news on isostatic rebound

Isostatic rebound, also known as post-glacial rebound or glacial isostatic adjustment, is the viscoelastic response of the lithosphere–asthenosphere system to the removal of long-lived surface loads, typically continental ice sheets. When ice mass is present, it depresses the lithosphere and displaces mantle material laterally; following deglaciation, the mantle flows back, driving vertical uplift and lateral stress redistribution over timescales of thousands to tens of thousands of years. This phenomenon affects crustal stress fields, relative sea level, geoid shape, gravity anomalies, fault reactivation, and ongoing three-dimensional crustal deformation, and is quantitatively modeled using rheological parameters of the mantle and lithosphere within the framework of continuum mechanics and viscoelastic relaxation theory.