unconformity
Americannoun
plural
unconformities-
lack of conformity; incongruity; inconsistency.
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Geology.
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a discontinuity in rock sequence indicating interruption of sedimentation, commonly accompanied by erosion of rocks below the break.
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the interface between such strata.
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noun
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lack of conformity
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the contact surface between younger and older rocks representing a discontinuity in the geological record. Most commonly it represents an erosional surface
Etymology
Origin of unconformity
First recorded in 1590–1600; un- 1 + conformity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The sites include familiar ones, such as the Grand Canyon’s “great unconformity,” a billion-year gap in the rock record erased by erosion.
From Science Magazine
An “unconformity” is the geological term for “a discontinuity in the deposition of sediment,” in Raffles’s words.
From New York Times
It echoes James Playfair’s description of the “abyss of time” he glimpsed while viewing a strata unconformity at Siccar Point in 1788, when geology was first emerging as a science.
From The Guardian
An unconformity: At Mount Stimson, the rover identified from sol 980 a thick sandstone unit overlying the lake deposits, separated by a geological feature called an unconformity.
From BBC
This unconformity represents a time where erosive processes took over after millions of years when the lake had finally dried up - to form a new land surface.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
