Dynamics of the Ice Age Earth

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the dynamics of the Ice Age Earth. The geophysical importance of the Ice Age is connected both with the magnitude of the stress to which the planet was subjected in consequence of the growth of individual ice sheets on its surface and with the time scale over which these surface loads were applied. This chapter discusses a simple linear viscoelastic rheology, which is capable of reconciling geodynamic phenomena with time scales that encompass the entire spectrum between those of the elastic gravitational free oscillations and those of mantle convection. The way in which the modern theory of glacial isostasy is able to simultaneously reconcile observations of RSL and free-air gravity is demonstrated. The chapter demonstrates that certain characteristic properties of the Earth's history of rotation are attributable to Pleistocene deglacial forcing. The theory and phenomenology of glacial isostatic adjustment is elaborated. An example of an application of the theory of glacial isostasy to an important problem in paleoclimatology is illustrated. A paleoclimatic model proposed by Weertman and elaborated by Birchfield and Birchfield is also analyzed.

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