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accretionary wedge

noun

  1. geology a body of deformed sediments, wedge-shaped in two dimensions or prism-shaped in three dimensions, that has been scraped off the surface of the oceanic lithosphere as it moves downwards beneath a continent or island arc. The sediments are added to the continental edge
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged†2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Sediments and oceanic crust scraped off the descending plate piled up in an accretionary wedge, which created a forearc basin that trapped sediments eroded from Tibet.

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The accretionary wedge and the forearc sediments were thrust northward onto Tibet.

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This month’s Accretionary Wedge, hosted by the “Knowledge Flocs†Blog, asks for the interplay between geology and civilization – for example the interplay of warfare with the landscape.

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