synclinal

American  

[sin-klahyn-l, sing-, sing-kli-nl] / sɪnˈklaɪn l, sɪŋ-, ˈsɪŋ klɪ nl /

adjective

1. sloping downward from opposite directions so as to meet in a common point or line.

2. Geology.

   1. inclining upward on both sides from a median line or axis, as a downward fold of rock strata.

   2. pertaining to such a fold.

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Other Word Forms

• synclinally adverb

Etymology

Origin of synclinal

1825–35; syn- + Greek klī́n ( ein ) to lean ¹ + -al ¹

Example Sentences

The next great synclinal, adjoining the Valley of Ossau, is the Valley of Lavedan, and at its head in the mountains lies Cauterets, our next point of attack.

From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Dix, Edwin Asa

The Blackwater, rising on Upper Carboniferous beds on the Kerry border, thus falls steeply southward to Rathmore, and then turns eastward along the synclinal valley of limestone from Millstreet to Cappoquin.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume" by Various

The present surface of anticlinal sandstone ridges and synclinal limestone hollows thus began to arise; but the main streams still held on their courses across the strike, that is, from north to south.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume" by Various

Subsequent movements produced in the Nova Scotia and the adjoining New Brunswick coal-fields the usual anticlinal and synclinal flexures.

From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

North and south of the great anticline of the Weald of Kent and Sussex are two synclinal troughs known as the London and Hampshire basins.

From The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight by Hughes, J. Cecil