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prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2007-03-22 07:32 am

anticline / syncline

anticline - n., Geol. a fold of rock layers that slope downward on both sides of a common crest.

syncline - n., Geol. a fold of rock layers that slope upward on both sides of a common low point.


Making a ridge or a valley, respectively. The adjectives anticlinal and synclinal, from which these are formed, are used in the general senses of leaning together to form a crest or trough. From Greek roots: synklinein, to incline, lean, from syn-, together + klinein, to slope -- anti-, of course, means against.

---L.

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