vein in the rock
- noun
- Specialized
:
vena en la roca
- The miners discovered a thick vein in the rock that was rich in gold.
Examples
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Geologists study the formation of a vein in the rock to understand mineral deposits.
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A vein in the rock can often be seen as a contrasting line or band crossing the surface.
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The geologist found a vein in the rock during the expedition.
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Can you identify a vein in the rock here?
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The miners discovered a rich vein in the rock that contained gold and silver.
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Geologists often study the vein in the rock to understand the mineral composition of the area.
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A prominent vein in the rock revealed valuable copper deposits during the excavation.
Synonyms
20
9.1
A rich vein of metal ore in the ground
16
6.3
A thin layer of metal or rock that runs through the ground
A thin layer of rock that contains metal or other valuable rock that people can mine
A very thin line in things such as leaves, rocks, or the body that holds another material
How Rich
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'vein' (a narrow seam or deposit of mineral) combined with the locative prepositional phrase 'in the rock' yields the meaning directly. This follows straightforward English noun + PP composition and corresponds to a common cross-linguistic geological concept, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.
Etymology
Vein in the rock comes from the image miners saw: a thin, bright vein filling a crack in the rock, which often held 'gold' or other 'ore'. That's why the phrase means a long, narrow layer of mineral inside rock.