Meanings
- not comparableof or related to contraction
Bars show principal horizontal stresses; black bars correspond to contractional stress and white bars to extensional stress.
1997 October 24, Philip England, Peter Molnar, “Active Deformation of Asia: From Kinematics to Dynamics”, in Science, volume 278, number 5338, →DOI, pages 647–6501 more example
Removal of SCLM can be accomplished by thermal erosion associated with a rising plume head, by extensional thinning of the lithosphere (and associated mantle upwelling), or by processes related to contractional tectonics [e.g., foundering of lithosphere during thickening, peeling of lithosphere, shearing away of lithosphere during shallow subduction, or erosion of lithosphere induced by flow in the mantle wedge above a subducting slab (1-5, 7 )].
2000 September 15, Cin-Ty Lee et al., “Osmium Isotopic Evidence for Mesozoic Removal of Lithospheric Mantle Beneath the Sierra Nevada, California”, in Science, volume 289, number 5486, →DOI, pages 1912–1916
Origin
Cite this entry
contractional. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contractional
“contractional.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contractional. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contractional,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contractional.
Source: contractional on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.