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⛰️ Isostasy: How Continents Float on the Mantle

Explore isostasy, the gravitational balance between Earth's rigid crust and the deformable mantle beneath it. Discover why mountains have deep roots, how land rebounds after ice sheets melt, and why the Airy and Pratt models explain crustal buoyancy.

Geology & Earth Science3DModerate60 FPS🌍 Earth

This simulation demonstrates how blocks of crust with different thicknesses and densities float in equilibrium on a denser, deformable mantle layer, letting you directly compare Airy-style and Pratt-style isostatic compensation and observe how adding or removing surface load causes the crust to sink or rebound over time.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the crustal thickness and density sliders to see how each block settles into a new floating equilibrium, add or remove a surface load such as an ice sheet or sediment layer to watch subsidence or rebound unfold, and switch between Airy and Pratt compensation modes to compare how each model explains the same surface elevation.

💡 Did You Know?

Did you know that parts of Scandinavia are still rising out of the sea today, more than eleven thousand years after the ice sheets that once depressed them finally melted away, and that engineers must account for this slow uplift when planning harbors and coastal infrastructure?

⚙ Under the hood

Explore isostasy, the gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust and mantle that explains mountain roots, post-glacial rebound, and the Airy and Pratt models.

isostasyairy-modelpratt-modelcrustal-equilibriumpost-glacial-reboundgeologyplate-tectonicsgeophysics

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install