slickenside

[slik-uh n-sahyd]

noun Geology.

a rock surface that has become more or less polished and striated by slippage along a fault plane.

Origin of slickenside

First recorded in 1760–70; slick² + -en³ + side¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for slickenside

slickenside

noun

a rock surface with a polished appearance and fine parallel scratches caused by abrasion during fault displacement

Word Origin for slickenside

C18: from dialect slicken, variant of slick + side

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

slickenside in Science

slickenside

[slĭk′ən-sīd′]

A polished, striated rock surface formed by one rock mass sliding over another in a fault plane.