Modelling of stresses that influence glacially triggered faulting has progressed substantially in the last decades with more complex models and improved modelling techniques, incorporation of a variety of relevant processes, better constraints of ice-loading history, higher model resolution and 3D geometries. Some recent developments are collected in this section to portray the scope and variability of numerical modelling relevant to glacially triggered faulting. These range from modelling of the general in situ stress field to studies on the stress field induced by glacial loading and unloading.

An appropriate estimation of the ambient background stress field is crucial for determining the effect of additional ice loading (or unloading) on pre-stressed faults. Contributions from local and far-field stress sources (topography, tectonics) need to be reconciled with in situ measurements from boreholes and fault-plane solutions from earthquakes. We describe the different types of stresses in glaciated regions with a focus on Scandinavia together with the techniques used to incorporate stresses into numerical models.

This chapter investigates the Fennoscandian uplift area since the latest Ice Age and addresses the question if glacial isostatic adjustment may influence current seismicity. The region is in an intraplate area, with stresses caused by the lithospheric relative plate motions. Discussions on whether uplift and plate tectonics are the only causes of stress have been going on for many years in the scientific community.

This review considers the improved sensitivity of the seismograph networks, and at the same time attempts to omit man-made explosions and mining events in the pattern, to present the best possible earthquake pattern. Stress orientations and their connection to the uplift pattern and known tectonics are evaluated. Besides plate motion and uplift, one finds that some regions are affected stress-wise by differences in geographical sediment loading as well as by topography variations. The stress release in the present-day earthquakes shows a pattern that deviates from that of the time right after the Ice Age. This chapter treats the stress pattern generalized for Fennoscandia and guides the interested reader to more details in the national chapters.