pluton
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈpluːtən/
- Specialized
:
plutón
- However, in a slowly cooled, large pluton, the generation of a high degree of undercooling would necessitate inhibition of nucleation for a considerable time.
- a granitic pluton
Examples
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Such chambers on Earth, once congealed and unroofed by erosion, are called plutons.
Academic text (1993) -
As such, they have spent essentially the entire cooling history of the pluton encapsulated in hot magma and granitic rock.
Academic text (2018) -
There wasn't time to check for pluton poisoning.
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How are granitic plutons constructed?
Academic text (2018) -
Do plutons really linger at high temperatures for comparable times?
Academic text (2018) -
Quartz-biotite pseudomorph after orthopyroxene in a granodiorite from the I-type Budduso pluton in Sardinia, Italy.
Academic text (2018) -
The physical and temporal intrusion history of a granitic pluton is critical in determining its thermal history and, therefore, the extent to which primary igneous microstructures might be overprinted in the subsolidus regime.
Academic text (2018) -
Geologists often study plutons to understand the formation of mountain ranges.
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A pluton can take thousands of years to form deep beneath the Earth's crust.
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The granite used in the building originated from a large pluton that cooled underground.
Synonyms
A very large body of hard rock formed deep under the ground
A very large mass of hard rock formed when hot liquid rock deep under the ground cooled
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pluton comes from the Greek god Pluto, who ruled the 'underworld' under the earth, so the name brings to mind things deep below the surface. Geologists call a large mass of rock that cooled far underground a pluton, which is why the word means a big body of rock formed deep beneath the ground.