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Earth and Space Sciences · Glossary

What is Regional isostatic compensation?

Definition 3.18 University Earth and Space Sciences — Year 3 · Chapter 3 — Gravity and the Figure of the Earth

Regional isostatic compensation is the support of a load by the buoyancy of a deflection spread over a region wider than the load, through the bending strength of the lithosphere; in Airy or Pratt compensation, by contrast, each column is compensated beneath itself.

A volcanic island on an oceanic plate (schematic cross-section, vertical scale exaggerated). The plate bends under the volcano; the hollow around it, the moat, fills with volcanic debris and sediment, and beyond it the plate rises in a low forebulge.
A volcanic island on an oceanic plate (schematic cross-section, vertical scale exaggerated). The plate bends under the volcano; the hollow around it, the moat, fills with volcanic debris and sediment, and beyond it the plate rises in a low forebulge.
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