How much would rising sea levels depress the Earth's crust with the additional weight of water?

Answer 1

It was ice before water so there is no change in weight!

Answer 2

As some of the answers have said, the rising sea would not depress the Earth's crust. That is because the rising sea comes from melting ice, so there is no "extra" weight on the Earth. But that is only true on average. The place where the ice comes from (Greenland, for example), would rise up a bit, while other places would sink.

There are still places in the world where the land is rising, because the glaciers melted off them at the end of the last ice age. Some places have risen about 200 meters.

Answer 3

I think none, because of the net zero change in weight. However, during the Pleistocene Epoch ice ages (and probably the ice ages in other, more ancient times) the weight of the ice on land actually depressed the land by significant amounts (as one has already mentioned). This depression of land is called Isostatic depression. As the glaciers receded Isostatic Rebound occurred, and the land rose back to something resembling it's original position.

The distribution of water on the land due to rising or falling sea levels probably WILL depress the crust of the earth. This will occur only along the coasts where water of some depth will be emplaced (gradually) where once there was none. However...remember, the Pleistocene glaciers were many thousands of meters in thickness in places, and caused a few hundred meters of isostatic depression. A 500 or 600 foot rise in sea level (while catastrophic for other reasons) that is spread over only the shores will have far less effect.

Answer 4

Sea water is very definitely a part of earths crust. It cannot depress, therfore, the level of earth's crust.
The rising sea level may impart a little pressure on land, but it will be negligible.

Answer 5

Some good answers already.
As land-locked ice melts, the weight of ice which was compressing the earth underneath it lessens. The once compressed land tends to rebound slowly. For instance 11,000 years ago Scotland had a massive ice sheet covering it; as this ice sheet melted Scotland began to rise(I'm not kidding) and is still slowly rising to this day.
So, although it seems strange, some land forms may actually rise, even as the sea levels rise also.

Answer 6

None, the sea levels would rise, but the weight would depress the crust, that's silly.

Answer 7

honestly that's any incorrect way round, a huge subsea earthquake alongside a length of four hundred miles, produced a unexpected upward push of sea aspect starting from 10 to ninety ft with the present Tsunami contained in the Indian Ocean. Sea aspect change does no longer continuously should be sluggish.

Answer 8

It wouldn't effect the crust at all,

But remember as the ice caps get smaller the land masses they stood on will gradually start rising again over a long period of time!!

Answer 9

None. The extra water is coming from the ice caps. There is no extra weight, the water is just changing its state from a solid to a liquid so there will be no depression.

Answer 10

Also, the Ocean beds are not crustal. The continents are crust, the ocean beds are the result of seafloor spreading - the expression of material from the mantle.