Definition of "isostasy" [i•sos•ta•sy]

• Equilibrium in the earth's crust such that the forces tending to elevate landmasses balance the forces tending to depress landmasses. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Hasterok, D., and D.S. Chapman, Continental thermal isostasy I: methods and sensitivity, J."
• "The dominant ones were tree rings, and ice cores, but others like varves, pollen, lichens, historic soil temperatures, sea level (eustasy), land levels (isostasy) require similar audits."
• "Dipping an unsweetened madeleine into my coffee, I begin dictating my column, due later that hour, on the recent encyclical reaffirming the doctrine of isostasy (I approve)."