What is the definition for dikes?
Definition of dike (Entry 1 of 3) 1 civil engineering : an artificial watercourse : ditch. 2 civil engineering. a : a bank (see bank entry 1 sense 1) usually of earth constructed to control or confine water : levee. b : a barrier preventing passage especially of something undesirable.
What is a dike in rock layers?
A dike (spelled dyke in British English) is a body of rock, either sedimentary or igneous, that cuts across the layers of its surroundings. They form in pre-existing fractures, meaning that dikes are always younger than the body of rock that they have intruded into.
What are dikes in a volcano?
Dikes are tabular or sheet-like bodies of magma that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks. They form when magma rises into an existing fracture, or creates a new crack by forcing its way through existing rock, and then solidifies.
How are dikes formed in geology?
It is formed when magma fills a fracture in the older beds and then cools and solidifies. The dike rock is usually more resistant to weathering than the surrounding rock, so that erosion exposes the dike as a natural wall or ridge. It is from these natural walls that dikes get their name.
What oozed means?
oozed; oozing. Definition of ooze (Entry 2 of 3) intransitive verb. 1 : to pass or flow slowly through or as if through small openings or interstices. 2 : to move slowly or imperceptibly the crowd began to ooze forward— Bruce Marshall.
What are dikes sills?
Dykes (or dikes) are igneous rocks that intrude vertically (or across), while sills are the same type of rocks that cut horizontally (or along) in another land or rock form. 2. Dykes are discordant intrusions, while sills are concordant intrusions.
What is a dike intrusion?
A dike is an intrusion into an opening cross-cutting fissure, shouldering aside other pre-existing layers or bodies of rock; this implies that a dike is always younger than the rocks that contain it.
What is Phacolith in geography?
Definition of phacolith : a lens-shaped mass of igneous rock intruded in folded sedimentary beds with which it is approximately concordant and having its greatest thickness along the axes of synclines or anticlines.
What’s the difference between a dike and a dam?
Dikes are different from dams because dikes only have water on one side of the barrier. Dams have water on both sides, and work to retain water. Dams also run through the water, whereas dikes run parallel to the water. Dikes work to protect land that would naturally be underwater the majority of the time.
How do dikes and levees work?
A temporary dike, or levee, lines the road as it fills with water. Living near water is a wonderful thing—except when there’s a flood. The natural movement of a body of water pushes sediment to the side, creating a natural levee. The banks of a river are often slightly elevated from the river bed.
What is ooze sediment?
ooze, pelagic (deep-sea) sediment of which at least 30 percent is composed of the skeletal remains of microscopic floating organisms. Oozes are basically deposits of soft mud on the ocean floor.
What are dikes and how do they form?
A dike is a sheet of rock that formed in a fracture in a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma intrudes into a crack then crystallizes as a sheet intrusion, either cutting across layers of rock or through an unlayered mass of rock.
What is dike in geography terms?
Associated Ore Deposits. Certain layered intrusions are a variety of sill that often contain important ore deposits.
What is the definition of dike in geography?
dike, also called dyke or geological dike, in geology, tabular or sheetlike igneous body that is often oriented vertically or steeply inclined to the bedding of preexisting intruded rocks; similar bodies oriented parallel to the bedding of the enclosing rocks are called sills.
What is a dike in geography?
Dike, also called dyke or geological dike, in geology, tabular or sheetlike igneous body that is often oriented vertically or steeply inclined to the bedding of preexisting intruded rocks; similar bodies oriented parallel to the bedding of the enclosing rocks are called sills.