bedding plane

American  

noun

Geology.

1. the surface that separates one stratum, layer, or bed of stratified rock from another.

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Etymology

Origin of bedding plane

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

"As we're walking up these turbidites, I'm looking around and this beautifully rippled bedding plane caught my eye," says Martindale.

From Science Daily • Mar. 8, 2026

They are fixed on a bedding plane, and so provide more reliable evidence of exactly when humans left them.

From Salon • Oct. 1, 2021

Visible in exposed outcroppings, each bedding plane indicates a change in sediment deposition conditions.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

I. Forms of frost cracks seen on the exposed flat bedding plane of a block of Dakota sandstone in a ravine a few miles southwest of Minnekahta, South Dakota.

From Fossil Ice Crystals An Instance of the Practical Value of "Pure Science" by Udden, Johan August

Its smooth upper surface, which represented a bedding plane, was covered with a thin coating of silt or fine clay which adhered to the block.

From Fossil Ice Crystals An Instance of the Practical Value of "Pure Science" by Udden, Johan August