USGS Bartlett Cove Coast Marker

Find this marker near the start of the Beach Trail in Bartlett Cove.

NPS Photo

It has been said: "Buy land, they're not making anymore." But here in Glacier Bay, we are. The glacier that overran the Tlingit Homeland eventually receded. As it did so, a great weight was removed from the Earth's crust and as a result the land began rising in much the same way the surface of a cushion rises after you’ve been sitting on it. This is called isostatic rebound or post-glacial rebound. Today, the land in Glacier Bay is rising at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year -- faster than anywhere else on the planet.

Notice the U.S.G.S. benchmark on top of this rock. It was placed here in 1966. Today it sits about five feet higher than it did then. Also, if you look across the cove, you’ll notice a point which juts out into the bay. From this angle, it’s evident that the trees are shorter closer to the shoreline. That’s because they’re younger, growing on land that only recently emerged from the sea.