Definition of Hercynian in English:
Hercynian
adjectivehəːˈsɪnɪənhərˈsɪniən
Geology 1Relating to or denoting a prolonged mountain-forming period (orogeny) in western Europe, eastern North America, and the Andes in the Upper Palaeozoic era, especially the Carboniferous and Permian periods.
Example sentencesExamples
- This makes them very unusual within the western European Hercynian belt and suggests a peculiar orogenic context.
- They are characteristic of the granitic uplands or moors of south-western England and of other Hercynian massifs in western and central Europe.
- The late granitic plutons of the NW Iberian Peninsula, the last important felsic magmatic event of the Hercynian orogeny, are distributed in bands parallel to the Ibero-Armorican arc.
- These late Hercynian faults are generally assumed to be left-lateral strike-slip faults.
- We show that these results allow us to constrain the late Carboniferous/early Permian tectonic setting for this part of the Hercynian belt of Europe.
- 1.1as noun the Hercynian The Hercynian orogeny.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin Hercynia silva; the ancient name of an area of forested mountains in central Germany; later (from the late 19th century) applied in geology to the Harz Mountains formed in the Hercynian period.
Definition of Hercynian in US English:
Hercynian
adjectivehərˈsɪniənhərˈsinēən
Geology 1Relating to or denoting a prolonged mountain-forming period (orogeny) in western Europe, eastern North America, and the Andes in the Upper Paleozoic era, especially the Carboniferous and Permian periods.
Example sentencesExamples
- These late Hercynian faults are generally assumed to be left-lateral strike-slip faults.
- They are characteristic of the granitic uplands or moors of south-western England and of other Hercynian massifs in western and central Europe.
- We show that these results allow us to constrain the late Carboniferous/early Permian tectonic setting for this part of the Hercynian belt of Europe.
- This makes them very unusual within the western European Hercynian belt and suggests a peculiar orogenic context.
- The late granitic plutons of the NW Iberian Peninsula, the last important felsic magmatic event of the Hercynian orogeny, are distributed in bands parallel to the Ibero-Armorican arc.
- 1.1as noun the Hercynian The Hercynian orogeny.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Latin Hercynia silva; the ancient name of an area of forested mountains in central Germany; later (from the late 19th century) applied in geology to the Harz Mountains formed in the Hercynian period.