Rocky icebergs and deep anchors – new research on how planetary forces shape the Earth’s surface

The authors argue that computation of topography indicates that isostasy needs to consider not just changes in the crustal thickness as part of the buoyancy balance but also the buoyancy of the sub-continental lithospheric mantle.

Rocky icebergs and deep anchors – new research on how planetary forces shape the Earth’s surface

New research uncovers the fundamental factors that control the Earth’s surface, providing insights into how land levels will respond to the melting of ice sheets and sea level rise.

The ConversationSimon Lamb

The original research was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems by Lamb and his colleagues

Global whole lithosphere isostasy: implications for surface elevations, structure, strength and densities of the continental lithosphere

Variations in lithosphere thickness exert first order control on continental elevations, defining whole lithosphere isostasy (WLI)WLI explains most elevations for lithospheric mantle density contr...

AGU JournalsSimon Lamb

Lamb, Simon, James D. P. Moore, Marta Perez‐Gussinye, and Tim Stern. “Global Whole Lithosphere Isostasy: Implications for Surface Elevations, Structure, Strength and Densities of the Continental Lithosphere.” Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems n/a, no. n/a (n.d.): e2020GC009150. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GC009150.

Reproducibility Challenge

The stripy / litho1pt0 python packages have all of the litho 1.0 and crust 1.0 data bundled with them and some simple examples to get you started, so anybody can test this idea with a slightly different dataset.

Let us know what you find if you do !