terrane

[ tuh-reyn, ter-eyn ]

noun

, Geology.

1. any rock formation or series of formations or the area in which a particular formation or group of rocks is predominant.

terrane

/ ˈtɛreɪn /

noun

1. a series of rock formations, esp one having a prevalent type of rock
2. an allochthonous, fault-bounded section of the earth's crust

Word History and Origins

Origin of terrane¹

First recorded in 1815–25; spelling variant of terrain

Word History and Origins

Origin of terrane¹

C19: see terrain

Example Sentences

Kenny owns a land-surveying business, Terrane, “So I’m around a lot of really nice houses,” he says.

From Seattle Times

Dubbed the Wrangellia Terrane, after Alaska’s Wrangell Mountains, these lavas are part of a Large Igneous Province formed by volcanoes spewing out huge volumes of lava over hundreds of thousands or millions of years, around 232 million years ago.

From Nature

Kayama and his team believe the mineral formed on the surface of the moon in the area called Procellarum Terrane, as water originally present in lunar dirt evaporated due to exposure to strong sunlight.

From Scientific American

“Plymouth Rock is a glacial erratic at rest in exotic terrane.”

From Time

Beneath it is the Little Jack Terrane, and then we’re back down on the Metamorphic Core Domain.

From Scientific American

Related Words

• clay
• coast
• dirt
• dust
• gravel
• land
• mud
• sand
• shore
• surface
• terrain
• turf