Increased Seismic Activity

Scientists are concerned that the melting of glaciers and the polar regions driven by global warming could lead to a seismically turbulent future for the planet. When ice and snow melt, the massive weight on the Earth's crust is significantly reduced. When the crust is no longer under a massive pressure it may respond with an "isostatic rebound - a process that can reactivate faults, increase seismic activity, and lift pressure on magma chambers that feed volcanoes.

The Alps, Himalayas, Rocky Mountains, Andes and the Southern Alps in New Zealand are some of the regions where isostatic rebounds could be observed in years to come. However, of particular concern is the continental shelf around Greenland. Here scientists expect that the massive melting of the ice sheet and glaciers might trigger earthquakes strong enough to cause huge underwater landslides, which in turn could generate massive tsunamis.

Another seismic trigger is sea-level rises, as continental margins become inundated with water. The past has shown that at the end of the last ice age, the extra load from seawater was more than enough to trigger earthquakes around the rims of all the major ocean basins.