overthrustn.
/ˈəʊvəθrʌst/, U.S. /ˈoʊvərˌθrəst/ Geology.
The thrusting forward of one series of rocks or strata over another, esp. along a fault plane at a relatively small angle to the horizontal; the extent of this. Also: (more fully overthrust fault): a large-scale reverse fault in which this occurs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > formation of features > tectonization or diastrophism > [noun] > movement of lithospheric plates
overthrust1883
suturing1890
subduction1970
obduction1971
suture1971
subducting1977
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [noun] > fault > other types of fault
heave1802
reversed fault1852
reverse fault1865
step-fault1879
ring fracture1881
overfault1883
overlap fault1883
overthrust1883
trough fault1883
thrust1888
thrust-fault1889
offset1897
cross-fault1900
tear-fault1900
distributive fault1904
cross-break1909
slide1910
strike-slip fault1913
rift1921
splay fault1942
wrench fault1951
megashear1954
transform fault1965
transform1971
1883 C. Lapworth in Geol. Mag. 10 342 The various stages of rock deformation under lateral pressure (folds, overfolds, overfaults, and overthrusts).
1885 C. Callaway in Daily News 8 Jan. 3/5 The extraordinary overthrust of old rocks on to newer strata in Sutherlandshire.
1890 Nature 31 July 320 The coal-measures are folded, broken and traversed by great ‘overthrust’ faults.
1944 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. vi. 80 Reverse or Thrust Faults... When the resulting fracture is inclined at an angle between 45° and the horizontal..the corresponding fault is described as an overthrust.
1969 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 80 953 Overthrust fault surfaces are actually undulatory rather than plane.
1986 New Yorker 10 Mar. 74/2 What could have hit the continent with force enough to drive the overthrust and cause the foreland mountains to rise?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
overthrustadj.
/əʊvəˈθrʌst/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈθrəst/ Geology.
Of a mass of rock: that has been overthrust.
ΚΠ
1900 Geogr. Jrnl. Oct. 461 Gigantic crust-creep of overthrust masses.
1942 M. P. Billings Struct. Geol. x. 184 The thrusts dip north, and the overthrust sheets have traveled northward relative to the underlying formations.
1986 New Yorker 24 Feb. 59/1 In the four hundred miles east of these overthrust mountains, other mountains began to appear.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
overthrustv.
/ˌəʊvəˈθrʌst/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈθrəst/ Geology.
transitive. To thrust (a mass of rock) over another, esp. along a fault plane at a relatively small angle to the horizontal; to obduct. Also: to thrust a mass of rock over (another). Chiefly in passive.
ΚΠ
1895 Science 27 Sept. 400/1 The Green Mountains traverse western Massachusetts in a series of complex anticlines and synclines which are partly overturned and overthrust westward.
1896 Science 18 Dec. 927/1 An area of Cambrian rocks which are overthrust by granite.
1901 Nature 3 Jan. 234/1 Huge masses of country have been overfolded, fractured, and overthrust, the older being pushed over the newer.
1971 R. G. Coleman in Jrnl. Geophysical Res. 76 1216/2 Parts of the oceanic crust have been overthrust (obducted) onto thin continental edges.
1990 P. Kearey & F. J. Vine Global Tectonics ix. 189 The Lower Himalayas consist of Precambrian–Mesozoic low grade metasediments which are overthrust by nappes of gneisses of the Higher Himalaya.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1883adj.1900
v.1895