Earth movements in Sweden, 20000 BP to 20000 AP

Studies within the Swedish Geodynamics Project of the Fennoscandian uplift have given a quite new picture of the uplift, viz. a total uplift of 830 m, a total forebulge subsidence of 170 m, isostatic peak rates of several hundred millimeters per year, a relaxation time of only 900 years, the existence of a low-viscosity asthenosphere, an uplift/subsidence ratio of 1:1 and a total volume of 0.7 million km3. The uplift was driven by two different mechanisms: a rapid adjustment of the asthenosphere and a linear (=the present uplift) of uncertain origin. Faulting, fracturing and seismic activity are found to have occured frequently and to be linked to the peak rates of isostasy and changes in the rate of uplift. The recorded crustal movements and activities of the last 20000 years are all expected to be repeated during the next 20000 years, indicating an unsafe geo-dynamic future. Predictions based only on data from the last hundred years are rejected. (author)