pluton

[ ploo-ton ]

noun

, Geology.

1. any body of igneous rock that solidified far below the earth's surface.

pluton

/ ˈpluːtɒn /

noun

1. any mass of igneous rock that has solidified below the surface of the earth

pluton

/ plo̅o̅′tŏn′ /

1. A large body of igneous rock formed when a plume of magma cools and solidifies underground. Although most plutons are deep within the Earth's crust, some become exposed at the surface due to plate-tectonic processes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pluton¹

1935–40; < German Pluton, back formation from plutonisch plutonic

Word History and Origins

Origin of pluton¹

C20: back formation from plutonic

Example Sentences

He describes them as “something like a backpacker’s air mattress,” except “four hundred and fifty miles long,” with individual “blobs called plutons” that are “lumped together like party balloons.”

From Washington Post

Called a pluton by geologists, the Barre granite formation is calculated to be four miles long, two miles wide and 10 miles deep.

From Washington Post

My own house sits directly on top of one of the state’s enormous granite plutons, the Meredith Porphyritic Granite.

From Seattle Times

The group also suggested a new classification, “pluton,” for bodies like Pluto whose orbits around the sun took 200 years or more.

From Washington Post

The granite's chemical boundaries mark different plutons, or plugs of magma that cooled underground.

From Scientific American