diapir
/ˈdaɪ.ə.pɪə(ɹ)/
diapir noun: an intrusion of a ductile rock into an overburden.
Noun
diapir (plural diapirs)
- An intrusion of a ductile rock into an overburden.
- "If a diapir is outside an established plume it rises at a much slower rate," Loper says.29 April 1989, Nigel Henbest, “Geologists hit back at impact theory of extinctions”, in New Scientist
- This final stage is characterized by the cooling and resolidification of the partially molten diapir within the mantle, slow subsidence at the surface, and greatly diminished rates of crustal addition.1994, Peter Olson, “Mechanics of Flood Basalt Magmatism”, in Michael P. Ryan, editor, Magmatic Systems, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 12
Forms of diapir
| plural | diapirs |
|---|
Origin of diapir
From Ancient Greek διαπειραίνω (diapeiraínō, “to pierce through”).
Words formed from diapir
Questions about diapir
- What does diapir mean?
- Diapir means an intrusion of a ductile rock into an overburden.
- What part of speech is diapir?
- Diapir is a noun.
- How do you pronounce diapir?
- Diapir is pronounced /ˈdaɪ.ə.pɪə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of diapir?
- The plural of diapir is diapirs.
Words near diapir in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diapir (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-diapir.wav.
Cite this entry: “diapir.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diapir. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.