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CONCEPT OF ISOSTASY
Scientists and mathematicians began to speculate on the thickness of the earth's crust and distribution
of land masses in the mid 1800s. Sir George Biddell Airy (1801-1892) assumed that the density of the
crust is the same throughout. Because the crust is not uniformly thick, however, the Airy hypothesis
suggests that the thicker parts of the crust sink down into the mantle while the thinner parts float on it.
The Airy hypothesis also describes the earth's crust as a rigid shell that floats on the mantle, which,
although it is liquid, is more dense than the crust.
John Henry Pratt (1809-1871) also proposed his own hypothesis stating that the mountain ranges (low
density masses) extend higher above sea level than other masses of greater density. Pratt's hypothesis
rests on his explanation that the low density of mountain ranges resulted from expansion of crust that
was heated and kept its volume but at a loss in density.
Clarence Edward Dutton (1841-1912), an American seismologist and geologist, also studied the tendency
of the earth's crustal layers to seek equilibrium. He is credited with naming this phenomenon "isostasy."