Meanings
- not comparablegeographyContaining multiple types of rock.
The ‘monomict’ meteorites are samples of a single lithology while the polymict meteorites are those containing two or more lithologies.
1983, Jeremy S. Delaney et al., “The Nomenclature of Polymict Basaltic Achondrites”, in Meteoritics & Planetary Science, volume 18, number 2, →DOI1 more example
It is pointed out that the breccias among stony meteorites are mainly of two kinds : (a) breccias in which the enclosed fragments are of the same material as the surrounding principal mass of the stone: it is proposed to call this kind of breccias “monomict breccias,” and (b) breccias in which the enclosed fragments are of a foreign material as compared with the surrounding principal mass of the stone: it is proposed to call these breccias “polymict breccias.”
1952, Walter Wahl, “The brecciated stony meteorites and meteorites containing foreign fragments”, in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, volume 2, number 2, →DOI, pages 91–117
Origin
Coined by Finnish geologist Walter Wahl in 1952.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
polymict. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polymict
“polymict.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polymict. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “polymict,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/polymict.
Source: polymict on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.