backthrusting

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbækˌθrʌstɪŋ/

Verb

backthrusting

  1. present participle of backthrust

Noun

backthrusting (plural backthrustings)

  1. (geology) The act or process of thrusting backward, typically in a physical, mechanical, or figurative sense, such as a counteraction or retrograde motion.
    The backthrusting of tectonic plates can cause reverse faults in geological structures.
    • 1951 April, Preston Cloud, Reconnaissance Geology of Guam and Problems of Water Supply and Fuel Storage, Military Geology Branch US Geological Survey, for Intelligence Division, Office of the Engineer, General Headquarters, Far East Command, page 27:
      Folds are overturned toward the east, and the upper blocks of major thrusts moved from west to east, with local sympathetic backthrusting from east to west.
    • 1996, P.K. Sims, L.M.H. Carter, editor, Archean and Proterozoic Geology of the Lake Superior Region, U.S.A., 1993 (U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER; 1556), UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING, page 45:
      The cause of the backthrusting is equivocal.
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