Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the shape, structure, and arrangement of the rock masses resulting from structural deformation of the earth's crust.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Relating to the structure or tho arrangement of the materials composing the crust of the earth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to geotectonics.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

geo- +‎ tectonic

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Examples

  • On human timescale (101 years), we can directly observe only a minuscule segment of the geotectonic weathering cycle and measure its rates mostly as one-way ocean-ward fluxes of water-borne compounds.

    Global material cycles 2007

  • Today's oceans and continents are thus transitory features produced by incessant geotectonic processes that are energized by three sources of the earth's heat: energy conducted through the lithosphere from the underlying hot mantle, radiogenic decay of heat-producing crustal elements, and convective transport by magmas and fluids during orogenic events.

    Global material cycles 2007

  • Human actions are of no consequence as far as the geotectonic processes are concerned, but they have greatly accelerated the rate of weathering due to deforestation, overgrazing of pastures, and improper crop cultivation.

    Global material cycles 2007

  • The other extreme involves slow weathering of terrestrial carbonates, their dissolution, river-borne transport, and eventual sedimentation in the ocean, and the element's return to land by geotectonic processes.

    Global material cycles 2007

  • Inevitably, these grand geotectonic cycles had an enormous impact on the evolution of life.

    Global material cycles 2007

  • Second, all of my life I have made a profound study of geognosy and geotectonic geology.

    The Desert Valley Jackson Gregory 1912

  • Global sea level changes are thought to be caused by geotectonic and glacial phenomena.

    RealClimate 2009

  • Global sea level changes are thought to be caused by geotectonic and glacial phenomena.

    RealClimate 2009

  • Due to its geographic location and geotectonic characteristics, Costa Rica is exposed to a large variety of natural hazards, including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and landslides.

    Kansas City infoZine Headlines 2008

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