Tilting due to glacial melting

Abstract

To investigate tilting and changes in level in the United States and Canada, results from the records of tide gauges of different stations were analyzed. In the Great Lakes region all results indicate a tilting of the land upward in a northerly direction, by about 10 cm. per 100 km. per century. Along the Pacific Coast a small rising of the land is indicated at the north, whereas in California the changes in height seem to be negative, but small and irregular. Along the Atlantic Coast of Canada the changes are small and within the limits of error nearly everywhere, but south of Portland (Me.) sinking prevails clearly. It is very probable that the tilt in the Great Lakes region is due to forces which tend to restore isostatic equilibrium, disturbed by the melting of ice after the Ice Age.