Modeling of GIA-assisted channel path changes
As the Laurentide Ice Sheet melted from the surface of North America a massive overburden was lifted from Earth's surface, resulting in an adjustment in global isostasy. The isostatic adjustment resulted in the uplift and tilting of newly exposed topography in the northern United States and much of Canada. In low relief settings like the former bed of Lake Agassiz, where resistive glaciolacustrine clays prohibit river incision, the tilting of the landscape caused rivers to find new paths. Because isostatic tilting was most rapid soon after glaciers melted and Lake Agassiz drained, channel avulsions like the one above were most frequent soon after deglaciation. This work uses the LandLab Landscape Evolution Modeling library scripted in Python, which is a great tool for geomorphologists to be familiar with.