GLACIER MELTING COULD LEAD TO MORE EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOS

DENNIS BUECKERT CANADIAN PRESS - A number of geologists say glacial
melting due to climate change will unleash pent-up pressures in the
Earth's crust, causing extreme geological events such as earthquakes,
tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. A cubic meter of ice weighs nearly a
ton and some glaciers are more than a kilometer thick. When the weight
is removed through melting, the suppressed strains and stresses of the
underlying rock come to life. University of Alberta geologist Patrick Wu
compares the effect to that of a thumb pressed on a soccer ball - when
the pressure of the thumb is removed, the ball springs back to its
original shape. . . Melting of the ice that covers Antarctica or
Greenland would have a similar impact, but the process would be
accelerated due to the human-induced greenhouse effect. "What happens is
the weight of this thick ice puts a lot of stress on the earth," says
Wu. "The weight sort of suppresses the earthquakes but when you melt the
ice the earthquakes get triggered."

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Environment