Library / English Dictionary

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(geology) the geological features of the earth

Synonyms:

formation; geological formation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("geological formation" is a kind of...):

object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "geological formation"):

groundwater level; water level; water table (underground surface below which the ground is wholly saturated with water)

wall (a vertical (or almost vertical) smooth rock face (as of a cave or mountain))

crater; volcanic crater (a bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano)

mineral vein; vein (a layer of ore between layers of rock)

scree; talus (a sloping mass of loose rocks at the base of a cliff)

fountain; natural spring; outflow; outpouring; spring (a natural flow of ground water)

incline; side; slope (an elevated geological formation)

shore (the land along the edge of a body of water)

ridge (a long narrow natural elevation on the floor of the ocean)

ridge; ridgeline (a long narrow range of hills)

relict (geological feature that is a remnant of a pre-existing formation after other parts have disappeared)

chain; chain of mountains; mountain chain; mountain range; range; range of mountains (a series of hills or mountains)

oceanfront (land bordering an ocean)

elevation; natural elevation (a raised or elevated geological formation)

depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)

mouth (the point where a stream issues into a larger body of water)

monocline (a geological formation in which all strata are inclined in the same direction)

massif (a block of the earth's crust bounded by faults and shifted to form peaks of a mountain range)

lakefront (land bordering a lake)

ice mass (a large mass of ice)

foreshore (the part of the seashore between the highwater mark and the low-water mark)

folium (a thin layer or stratum of (especially metamorphic) rock)

diapir (a domed rock formation where a core of rock has moved upward and pierced through the more brittle overlying strata)

delta (a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river divides before entering a larger body of water)

cliff; drop; drop-off (a steep high face of rock)

cave (a geological formation consisting of an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea)

beach (an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake)

aquifer (underground bed or layer yielding ground water for wells and springs etc)

Instance hyponyms:

Pillars of Hercules (the two promontories at the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; according to legend they were formed by Hercules)

Credits