plateau mountain . A pseudomountain produced by the dissection of a plateau; e.g. the Catskill Mountains, N.Y.
GeoWord of the Day
The GeoWord of the Day is a free service of the American Geosciences Institute. All of the terms and definitions are from the Glossary of Geology, 5th Edition Revised.
water witch . (a) A device for determining the presence of water, usually electrically. Cf: divining rod. (b) dowser. Nonpreferred syn: witch.
piezoelectric crystal (pi-e''-zo-e-lec'-tric). A crystal, e.g. of quartz or tourmaline, that displays the piezoelectric effect. Any nonconducting crystal lacking a center of symmetry may be piezoelectric.
operational facies (op-er-a'-tion-al). A term used by Krumbein and Sloss (1963, p.328) for stratigraphic facies designating lateral variations of any characteristic of a defined stratigraphic unit, occupying mutually exclusive areas bounded by arbitrarily (or preferably, quantitatively) determined limits, and usually comprising one or several lithosomes and biosomes that occur in vertical succession or are intertongued.
xifengite (xi-feng'-ite). A metallic steel-gray hexagonal mineral, found in cosmic dust: Fe5Si3 .
summer berm . A berm built on the backshore by the uprush of waves during the summer. Cf: winter berm.
Paibian (Pai'-bi-an). A stage of the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale: lowest stage of Furongian Series of the Cambrian. The basal GSSP is near Paibi in Hunan, China.
sublimation [meteorol] . The phase-change process in which water molecules in ice change directly to atmospheric water vapor. Ant: deposition [meteorol].
chengdeite . A metallic steel-black cubic mineral: Ir3Fe. The Ir analogue of isoferroplatinum.
ewaldite (e'-wald-ite). A bluish-green hexagonal mineral: Ba(Ca,Y,Na,K)(CO3)2•2.6H2O .
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