The Alps are still growing, 18,000 years after the thaw of the last ice age

The Alps are still growing, and researchers say the relief offered by the end of the last ice age explains the uplift. Photo by Anthony Anex/EPA

BONN, Germany, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- New research suggests an ancient thaw explains the continued growth of the Alps.

During the latter half of the last ice age, some 18,000 years ago, the planet began to warm and the glaciers started melting. The pressure relief offered by the thaw continues to affect Earth's crust today.

With the weight gone, Earth's surface experiences forces of uplift. New analysis -- detailed in the journal Nature Communications -- shows 90 percent of growth in the Alps can be attributed to the aftershock of deglaciation.

Until now, scientists believed growth in the Alps could be explained by a variety of factors.

On older continents like North America, scientists agree almost all vertical tectonic shifts are caused by the "rebound effect." The case was less obvious in Europe, where mountains are younger and the reach of ice age glaciers was less extensive.

Many scientists suggested erosion was main cause of uplift in the Alps. But new models designed by scientists at the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres suggest otherwise.

While other tectonic effects and erosion accentuate the rebound effect, they account at best for just 10 percent of the growth measured in the Alps. The rest, models show, is caused by the ongoing relief precipitated by the retreat and disappearance of the glaciers 18,000 years ago.