A new study conducted by a team of geologists from the University of Arizona has discovered that sea levels aren't the only things rising due to climate change - swaths of land are too, including the nation of Iceland.

The melting of Iceland's glaciers has reduced pressure on the ground beneath them, causing the land to "rebound" from the Earth?s crust, according to the research.

Sigrun Hreinsdottir, one of the principal investigators on the project, explained the notion that rock rebounds is not a new one. Land in Scandinavia and Canada is still gradually rising after being pushed down by glaciers during the last ice age.

More recently, there are indications parts of Chile and Alaska are also experiencing a "rebound" phenomenon as glaciers retreat. But if those rocks are like a memory foam mattress, remaining compressed long after the pressure on them is gone, the rising land in Iceland is like a trampoline, springing back at a rate of 1.4 inches per year.

Hreinsdottir and her colleagues identified this change by examining 20 years of GPS data from more than five dozen points around Iceland.

The height changes they identified, which are concentrated in central Iceland, correlate almost perfectly with the loss of ice documented by glaciologists, Hreinsdottir said.

As Iceland's glaciers continue to melt - the island loses about 11 billion tons of ice per year - the already-rapid rebounding process will accelerate.

Relieved of their frozen burden, parts of Iceland could rise as fast as 1.6 inches per year by 2025 ? growing at nearly the same rate as an elementary schooler. This height change is not noticeable to the average human observer, but its consequences will be.

It must be noted that Iceland sits atop one of the world's most active volcanic hot spots, roiling with molten magma. The pressure reductions caused by the melting glaciers and rising land could create conditions that would cause mantle rocks to melt, further feeding the country's already well-supplied volcanoes.

The geological record from the end of the last ice age indicates Iceland saw an increase in volcanic activity after glaciers retreated, Hreinsdottir said.