concretion
/kənˈkriːʃ(ə)n
/noun
1A hard solid mass formed by the local accumulation of matter, especially within the body or within a mass of sediment: nodular concretions of siderite growing within the sediments...
- At certain levels, carbonate-rich beds are present, inside which decimetre-scale hard calcareous concretions develop.
- Preservation of non-biomineralized tissues within concretions occurs through most of the Phanerozoic, from the Upper Cambrian to the Recent.
- The barite and calcite form excellent euhedral crystals in concretions within the Cretaceous-age Mancos Shale.
1.1 [mass noun] The process by which matter forms into a concretion.The areas along fault planes were subjected to a shearing action that produced a pattern of fracturing that is different from the desiccation cracking of a normal septarian concretion....
- These ground rules become privatized, and those who represent state security become complicit in their support, creating disorder and the absence of clear references for legitimacy and concretion for the general interest.
- The point of such criticisms is not to recommend a ‘materialist’ poetics supposedly granting direct access to a realm of concretion undisturbed by concepts.
Derivatives
concretionary
/ adjective ...- At Cresson Quarry, the Kiamichi Formation is 10 m thick and comprises silty marls with concretionary limestone lenses and layers and minor beds of fine sandstone.
- An offshore marine environment of deposition is suggested for the mudstones, with the concretionary horizons interpreted to represent periods of reduced sedimentation, and early cementation.
- The swirls, which are more siliceous than the surrounding sandstone, weather in relief to produce elliptical to irregular concretionary patterns on the sandstone surface.
Origin
Mid 16th century: from Latin concretio(n-), from concrescere 'grow together'.