<p>Yes, it's called glacial rebound. Some areas of the globe are still responding to the disappearance of the ice of the last ice age. A well known example of this are the raised beaches in the northern Baltic, where the crust is rising due the melting of the ice sheet that covered Scandinavia.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-02T06:30:41.077Z
i think this answer is only partial,isostatic rebound is not the same as plate tectonic movement.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-07T09:48:15.947Z
Thanks for giving me language in which to study this topic deeper. I found a paper from May regarding isostatic adjustment;

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2017JB015257

I know it doesn't completely cover my original question, but it does seem to indicate that ground water recession could have an effect on the dynamics of plate formation/change, correct? Could we assume because melting ice sheets cause formation changes, that added ground water from glacial melt might also be capable of doing so?
Mannimarco
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-31T07:30:01.970Z
2018-08-31T07:30:01.970Z
Lukas
<p>Let's say some event caused runaway glacial melt, and removed half of the ice currently locked away in specific areas of the planet. Would the significant weight changes on various plates and fault lines be enough to dramatically shift how current plates were biased against one another?</p>

<climate-change><plate-tectonics><seismology>
Could glacial melt alter plate tectonic movement?
Mannimarco
# Could glacial melt alter plate tectonic movement?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-22)

Let's say some event caused runaway glacial melt, and removed half of the ice currently locked away in specific areas of the planet. Would the significant weight changes on various plates and fault lines be enough to dramatically shift how current plates were biased against one another?

**Tags:** climate-change, plate-tectonics, seismology


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-08-31. Score: 2

Yes, it's called glacial rebound. Some areas of the globe are still responding to the disappearance of the ice of the last ice age. A well known example of this are the raised beaches in the northern Baltic, where the crust is rising due the melting of the ice sheet that covered Scandinavia.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: i think this answer is only partial,isostatic rebound is not the same as plate tectonic movement.  
> **username_0**: Thanks for giving me language in which to study this topic deeper. I found a paper from May regarding isostatic adjustment;  https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2017JB015257  I know it doesn't completely cover my original question, but it does seem to indicate that ground water recession could have an effect on the dynamics of plate formation/change, correct? Could we assume because melting ice sheets cause formation changes, that added ground water from glacial melt might also be capable of doing so?  

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