Lobby > Exhibits > Scientific Research > What Lies Beneath > A Lakeside Mystery

Dr. Smith, right, and a student examine a benchmark.

Scientists have not yet definitively determined the cause of the tipping. The most likely theory is that uplift is caused by the upward movement of small bodies of magma. Another theory is that hydrothermal fluids become trapped underground, causing the overlying land to rise upward.

The subsidence is likely caused by the cooling and contraction of very hot rock by cold water recharging the hydrothermal system, in combination with the movement of magmatic fluids and gases.

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