Isostasy

Compiled by Jeff Crabaugh at the University of Wyoming and Monica Bruckner at the Science Education Resource Center (SERC), Carleton College.

The following visualizations illustrate isostasy and its effects on the Earth's landscape. We also have additional structural geology visualization collections.

Why Topography? (more info) From the Dynamic Earth website at the University of Leeds, simple and clear interactive graphics illustrate how two models of isostasy have been used to explain variations in topography.

Glacial Isostasy (more info) This animation depicts the changes that occur in the mantle and crust when undergoing glacial isostasy. The animation covers both the thickening of the glacier and its subsequent melting.

Applied Geodynamics Laboratory Salt Tectonics Sandbox Animations (more info) This collection of salt tectonics sandbox animation movies done by Giovanni Guglielmo, and available at UT Austin website, can be used to illustrate concepts and processes in a structural geology course. To access the animations, click on the 'animations' link in the menu on the right side of the web page. The animations are excellent for illustrating that the path from undeformed strata to final cross section is highly dynamic and can include a world of unrealized intermediate geometries. For example, the animations 'Rising and falling diapirs' can be used to introduce the concepts, and 'Raft Tectonics - Kwanza Basin' to illustrate the possibilities.