Pragjyotish college

Assignment
On
Concept
of
Submitted To:
Sir Priyam Borthakur
HOD,Department of geology

Submitted By :
Khagen Doley
Roll no: 0141(GU)
MEANING OF ISOSTASY
Isostasy is the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust
and mantle such that the crust "floats" at an elevation that depends
on its thickness and density.
It is derived from Greek word sos "equal",stsis "standstill.
isostasy, ideal theoretical balance of all large portions of Earths
lithosphere as though they were floating on the denser underlying
layer, the asthenosphere, a section of the upper mantle composed of
weak, plastic rock that is about 110 km (70 miles) below the surface.
Isostasy
Isostasy
Isostasy controls the regional elevations of continents and ocean
floors in accordance with the densities of their underlying rocks.
Imaginary columns of equal cross-sectional area that rise from the
asthenosphere to the surface are assumed to have equal weights
everywhere on Earth, even though their constituents and the
elevations of their upper surfaces are significantly different.
This means that an excess of mass seen as material above sea level,
as in a mountain system, is due to a deficit of mass, or low-density
roots, below sea level. Therefore, high mountains have low-density
roots that extend deep into the underlying mantle. The concept of
isostasy played an important role in the development of the theory of
plate tectonics.
 HISTORY The general term 'isostasy' was coined in the
year 1889 by the American geologist
Clarence Dutton.
Pierre Bouguer
In 1735, expeditions over the Andes led by
Pierre Bouguer, a French photometrist and
the first to measure the horizontal
gravitational pull of mountains, noted that
the Andes could not represent a
protuberance of rock sitting on a solid
platform.
About a century later, similar discrepancies
were observed by Sir George Everest,
surveyor general of India, in surveys south
of the Himalayas, indicating a lack of
compensating mass beneath the visible
mountain ranges.
CONCEPT OF ISOSTASY
There are two main ideas, developed in the mid-19th century, on the
way isostasy acts to support mountain masses. In Pratt's theory, there
are lateral changes in rock density across the lithosphere. Assuming
that the mantle below is uniformly dense, the less dense crustal
blocks float higher to become mountains, whereas the more dense
blocks form basins and lowlands. On the other hand, Airy's theory
assumes that across the lithosphere, the rock density is
approximately the same, but the crustal blocks have different
thicknesses. Therefore, mountains that shoot up higher also extend
deeper roots into the denser material below.
 Both theories rely on the presumed existence of a denser fluid or
plastic layer on which the rocky lithosphere floats. This layer is now
called the asthenosphere, and was verified in the mid-20th century to
be present everywhere on Earth due to analysis of earthquakes -
seismic waves, whose speed decrease with the softness of the
medium, pass relatively slowly through the asthenosphere.
Both theories predict a relative deficiency of mass under high
mountains, but Airy's theory is now known to be a better explanation
of mountains within continental regions, whereas Pratt's theory
essentially explains the difference between continents and oceans,
since the continent crust is largely of granitic compostion which is less
dense than the basaltic ocean basin.
ISOSTATIC MODELS
There are 3 principal models of isostasy
PRATT HYPOTHESIS
THE AIRY MODEL
THE VENING OR FLEXURAL ISOSTASY
THE AIRY MODEL
The Airy model where different
topographic heights are accommodated
by changes in crustal thickness, in which
the crust has a constant density

Airy isostasy, in which a constant-density

crust floats on a higher-density mantle,
and topography is determined by the
thickness of the crust.
PRATT HYPOTHESIS
PRATT MODEL
The Pratt model where different topographic heights are
accommodated by lateral changes in rock density.
In essence, this says that areas of the Earth of lesser density, such as
mountain ranges, project higher above sea level than do those of
greater density.
The explanation for this was that the mountains resulted from the
upward expansion of locally heated crustal material, which had a
larger volume but a lower density after it had cooled.
THE VENING OR FLEXURAL ISOSTASY
This hypothesis was suggested to explain how large topographic loads
such as seamounts (e.g. Hawaiian Islands) could be compensated by
regional rather than local displacement of the lithosphere.
This is the more general solution for lithospheric flexure, as it
approaches the locally compensated models above as the load
becomes much larger than a flexural wavelength or the flexural
rigidity of the lithosphere approaches zero.
ISOSTATIC EFFECTS ON PLATE TECHTONICS
When continents collide, the continental crust may thicken at their
edges in the collision. If this happens, much of the thickened crust
may move downwards rather than up as with the iceberg analogy.
The idea of continental collisions building mountains "up" is therefore
rather a simplification. Instead, the crust thickens and the upper part
of the thickened crust may become a mountain range.[citation
needed]However, some continental collisions are far more complex
than this, and the region may not be in isostatic equilibrium, so this
subject has to be treated with caution
Resulting Geological Processes from Isostasy
The laws of buoyancy act on continents just as they would on icebergs and
rafts. An iceberg will rise further out of the water when the top is melted,
and a raft will sink deeper when loads are added. However, the adjustment
time for continents is much slower, due to the viscosity of the
asthenosphere. This results in many dynamic geological processes that are
observed today. The following paragraphs illustrate some of these
examples.The formation of ice sheets could cause the Earth's surface to
sink. In areas which had ice sheets in the last ice age, the land is now
"rebounding" upwards since the heavy ice has melted and the load on the
lithosphere is reduced. Evidence from geological features include former
sea-cliffs and associated wave-cut platforms that are found hundreds of
meters above the sea level today. In the Baltic and in Canada, the amount
and rate of uplift can be measure. In fact, due to the slowness of rebound,
much of the land is still rising.
 Isostatic uplift also compensates for the erosion of mountains. When
large amounts of material are carried away from a region, the land
will rebound upwards to be eroded further. Due to drainage patterns,
the erosion and removal of material is more prominent at plateau
edges. Isostatic uplift may raise the edge higher than it used to be, so
the ridge tops can be at an elevation considerably higher than the
plateau itself. This mechanism is especially probable in mountain
ranges bounding plateaus, such as the Himalayas and Kunlun
Mountains bounding the Tibetan Plateau
In conclusion, isostasy is yet another example of a deceptively simple
idea in physics that provides crucial and sweeping explanatory power
for other sciences.
REFERENCES
A. B. Watts, Isostasy and Flexure of the Lithosphere
K.M Bangar, Principal of engineering geology
Wikipedia