| 释义 |
plutonic, a. (n.)|pluːˈtɒnɪk|
Also Plutonic.
[f. Gr. Πλούτων Pluto: see prec. and -ic. So F. plutonique (16th c.).]
1. Geol.
a. Pertaining to or involving the action of intense heat at great depths upon the rocks forming the earth's crust; igneous. Applied spec. to the theory that attributes most geological phenomena to the action of internal heat: cf. plutonist.
1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 455 There is another system which attributes not only to basalts, but to all stony substances, an igneous origin... This may be called the Plutonic system. 1840Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 6) I. i. xiii. 320 Several modern writers, without denying the truth of the Plutonic or metamorphic theory, still contend that the crystalline and non-fossiliferous formations,..such as gneiss and granite, are essentially ancient as a class of rocks. 1847–8H. Miller First Impr. iii. (1857) 32 Both the denuding and the Plutonic agents. 1870E. L. Garbett in Eng. Mech. 11 Mar. 625/1 All this is apart from plutonic heat. 1871Hartwig Subterr. W. i. 4 Plutonic and volcanic eruptions and upheavings..have in many places deranged..strata deposited in horizontal layers at the bottom of the sea, or of large inland lakes.
b. spec. Applied to that class of igneous rocks, such as granite and syenite, which are supposed to have been formed by fusion and subsequent slow crystallization at great depths below the surface, as distinguished from volcanic rocks (which have been formed at or near the surface).
1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 353 The unstratified crystalline rocks have been very commonly called Plutonic, from the opinion that they were formed by igneous action at great depths. 1849Dana Geol. x. (1850) 539 Far the larger part of the land consists of ancient Plutonic and stratified rocks. 1882Geikie Text Bk. Geol. ii. ii. vi. 134 Granite is thus a decidedly plutonic rock.
2. Belonging to or resembling Pluto; Plutonian.
1819J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours (1820) 65 Winter—a Plutonic thief, Coming to claim thee for his Mourning Bride. 1857Dufferin Lett. High Lat. 113 The Plutonic drama concluded with a violent earthquake.
B. n. (pl.) Geol. Plutonic rocks.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xi. 112 The bottom series of plutonics rises to grand and mountainous proportions. 1881R. F. Burton in Academy 21 May 366/2 Here begins the new land of clayey schist and mica-slate contrasting with the plutonics of Bihé. |