Glacial isostatic adjustment

Glacial isostatic adjustment is the broader solid-Earth and sea-level response to growth and retreat of ice sheets.

Flexural isostasy models the lithosphere as an elastic plate that bends over a buoyant substrate. For a sinusoidal deflection of wavenumber $k$, bending contributes a restoring stress proportional to $B{k}^4$, where $B$ is the plate's bending stiffness.

The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered much of northern North America during the last glacial period and left a major postglacial-rebound signal after retreat.

The Fennoscandian Ice Sheet covered northern Europe during the last glacial period and produced ongoing uplift around the Baltic region after retreat.