Melting glaciers affect tectonic plates.
The outer surface of the Earth is divided into tectonic plates, which formed in the early days of Earth's creation. These plates move, allowing molten rock known as magma to rise up and fill in the gaps between the plates. Tectonic plates continuously move. While no ice exists deep down where this activity occurs, the melting of ice on the planet's surface can affect the plates beneath.
Tectonics
Magma renews the Earth's crust.
Tectonics is a branch of geology that is concerned with the movement of tectonic plates. The Earth's surface, known as the crust, is continuously being renewed as magma rises and fills in the gaps between the rigid tectonic plates. This area is known as the divergent boundary. Tectonic plates move due to the forces of magma and thermal energy under the plates. When tectonic plates are forced together, mountains form, while earthquakes are caused by sudden slips in pressure as the plates grind together.
Plate Movement
Tectonic plates move incredibly slowly, migrating at a rate of 1 to 16 cm per year. The continents are made up of different tectonic plates, often called continental plates. Seven primary tectonic plates exist. Originally there was only one single continent, known as Pangaea. Pangaea broke up due to tectonic plate movement, forming the continents we know today. The continents have moved all over the planet since the Earth first formed.
Melting Ice
Glaciers are masses of frozen water. They exist in extremely cold areas such as on high mountains or at the polar caps. Antarctica and Greenland are huge bodies of ice known as continental glaciers. The water locked in glaciers can remain frozen for thousands of years, but like tectonic plates, glaciers slowly move across the land. The pressure from the weight of all that ice melts the underside of the glacier, causing it to slide. When glaciers travel into warmer climates, this melting increases.
As glaciers melt, weight is removed from the land the glacier is resting on and is redistributed; the land then slowly rebounds as the pressure is relieved. This redistribution of weight affects the tectonic plates underneath, altering their course or changing the speed of plate movement.
Climate Change
Glacial melting is normally a slow process, taking thousands of years. However, climate change has resulted in increased and rapid glacial melting, which redistributes the weight that was concentrated under the glaciers. This redistribution of weight is affecting the tectonic plate movement beneath. While it is difficult to predict the effect that this rapid glacial melting will have on plate tectonics, increases in earthquakes are one possibility. Earthquakes could also become more unpredictable, affecting areas not normally associated with them.
Tags: tectonic plates, plates move, tectonic plates, gaps between, plate movement, rapid glacial, rapid glacial melting
