(esp of a sea) situated on a continental shelf or continent
epicontinental in American English
(ˌepɪˌkɑntnˈentl)
adjective
found or located in or on a continent
epicontinental minerals
an epicontinental sea
Word origin
[1900–05; epi- + continental]This word is first recorded in the period 1900–05. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: burnout, desensitize, geopolitics, hookup, hormoneepi- is a prefix occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “upon,” “on,” “over,”“near,” “at,” “before,” “after” (epicedium; epidermis; epigene; epitome). On this model, epi- is used in the formation of new compound words (epicardium; epinephrine)
Examples of 'epicontinental' in a sentence
epicontinental
Their depositional environments range from high-energy continental to transitional environments to the floodplain, where a shallow, epicontinental sea gradually transgressed.
LUCA G. COSTAMAGNA, SEBASTIANO BARCA 2002, 'THE "GERMANIC" TRIASSIC OF SARDINIA (ITALY): A STRATIGRAPHIC, DEPOSITIONAL AND PALAEOGEOGRAPHICREVIEW', Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafiahttps://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/5455. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
A system of extensional faults was the major factor determining the differentiation of several shallow, carbonate, epicontinental platforms.
SIXTO R. FERNÁNDEZ-LÓPEZ, JUAN J. GÓMEZ 2004, 'THE MIDDLE JURASSIC EASTERN MARGIN OF THE IBERIAN PLATFORM SYSTEM (EASTERN SPAIN).PALAEOGEOGRAPHY AND BIODISPERSAL ROUTES OF AMMONOIDS', Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafiahttps://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/RIPS/article/view/6281. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)