ESSEA
Donna Davis
Ice Sheets Lithosphere
A summary of my personal understanding is that:
I think that the lithosphere would be affected by polar ice sheet melt due to the fact that
there is an increase in liquid water. Alfred Wegener studied the polar sheets many years
ago and the basis for his research is still used today. It seems to me that if ice caps were
moving then the lithosphere would experience pressure and coastlines would be altered. I
know this because this has been researched by the department of physics and cooperative
Institute for research in Environmental sciences, University of Colorado. (Wahr and
Darzong) Blocks of ice have comparable magnitude to that of forces in the asthenosphere
so it has to alter the lithosphere some way physically. I think that if plates are moving and
mountains rise slowly over time and there are glaciers about them, they too must respond
to changing or opposing forces of the mountains. In which case, if they are coastal
mountains experiencing a colliding plate or even a sub ducting plate, those ice sheets will
respond and move. This has been studied by geologists. (Kerr, Huybrecht)
I also know that the earth is changing in its tilt or wobble ever so slightly. The earth
wobbles in space so that its tilt changes between about 22 and 25 degrees on a cycle of
about 41,000 years. I actually know this from my science text book; it’s called the
Milankovitch or astronomical theory. I think that maybe that too would have bearing on
the shape of the lithosphere.
As ice sheets move continentally across the lithosphere do they not deposit sediments and
leave them behind. It is my experience that I have visited Kelly’s Island in Ohio. I saw
glacial grooves left in rocks form the force of the moving ice. You can evidence of this
all over the earth’s lithosphere. (http://www.eosnap.com/?tag=continental-ice-sheet) hey
can cause slopes and valleys to occur over long periods of time by constructive and
destructive processes. This definitely affects the lithosphere!
When I was young is was fun to play in the sand box with all the neighbors. I recall
vividly when someone would dump their iced ‘cool aid’ in the sand, it would melt and
then in an hour or so under the summer heat our sand sculptures and cites would be
altered as water went form solid to liquid. With that simple recollection on a small scale,
I could only apply it to a larger scale of erosion. Many geologists, I’m sure have studied
plenty on larger scales to show such evidence with melting of the polar spheres.
This water if it is cold will likely have increased salinity which would have affect on the
mineral decomposition of calcium carbonate in the formation of limestone and other
carbonate mixtures in the earth’s lithosphere. It is my personal understanding that these
ice sheets melting is something because of data supported by research findings in the
polar cap region of core drilling of ice caps. I reason that the lithosphere is affected
because all the spheres interact with each other.
What I still don't understand or can't explain if that the lithosphere must interact with the
hydrosphere and biosphere in order that its matter be composed. Dust to dust…
What I don’t know is how it all is controlled. How does the lithosphere manifest itself to
make polar ice sheets melt? Is it friction of a massive earth? It is the inside of the mantle
welling up conduction zones reaching the surface of the earth? Are there tiny unknown
cracks somewhere in a lost civilization? Could the cracks in the lithosphere bring about
temperature change in the ginormous ice sheets that tie up fresh water supplies?
My reasoning including logical explanations (inductive or deductive) about how and why
things happen in the Lithosphere include reports from the University of Illinois,
Antarctic sea ice area is nearly 30% above normal and the anomaly has reached
1,000,000 km2. You could almost fit Texas and California (or 250 Rhode Islands) inside
Antarctica’s excess sea ice. (Goddard) and the resources I sited below.
Citations
Wahr, John, & Dazhong, Han. (1977). PREDICTIONS OF CRUSTAL DEFORMATION CAUSED BY.
Surveys in Geophysics, 18, 303-312.
Goddard, Steven. "Polar Ice Worries." Washington Post. r 2009. 17 Oct 2009
<http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/08/polar-ice-worries-north-and-south/>.
Kerr, Andrew, & Huybrechts, Phylippe. (199). he Response of the East Antartic ice- sheet to the evloving
ytectonic con figuration of the Transantaric MOUntains. Elseiver Science
Milankovitch, M. 1941 Kanon der Erdbestrahlungen und seine Anwendung auf das Eiszeitenproblem
Belgrade.
(New English Translation, 1998, Canon of Insolation and the Ice Age Problem. With introduction and
biographical essay by Nikola Pantic. 636 pp. $79.00 Hardbound. Alven Global. ISBN 86-17-06619-9.)
Palmer, Elizabeth. "Scientists Release New Polar Ice Findings." CBSNEWS.com. 12 October 2009. CBS
NEWS. 17 Oct 2009 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/17/eveningnews/main5392938.shtml
http://www.athropolis.com/library-cat.htm#ice
http://static.atlasobscura.com/files/place_images/Glacial_grooves.jpg