nonorogenic
|non-o-ro-gen-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌnɑn.oʊ.rəˈdʒɛnɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌnɒn.ɒr.əˈdʒɛnɪk/
not mountain-building
Etymology
'nonorogenic' originates from Latin 'non' (not) combined with 'orogenic', which itself comes from Greek 'oros' meaning 'mountain' and Greek 'genesis' meaning 'origin/creation'.
'orogenic' comes from Greek roots ('oros' + 'genesis'), entered scientific Latin and English as a term for mountain-forming processes; in modern geological English the negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non') was attached to form 'nonorogenic' in 20th-century technical usage to denote absence of orogeny.
Initially the root referred specifically to 'mountain origin/forming'; 'nonorogenic' was formed to mean simply 'not mountain-forming' and has retained that technical negative meaning in geology.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the state or quality of being nonorogenic; lack of an orogenic (mountain-building) origin. (Derived noun from the adjective 'nonorogenic'.)
The nonorogenicity of the deposit suggests a distant, stable basin source.
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Adjective 1
not related to or resulting from orogeny; not formed by mountain-building processes (of geological features or sediments).
The basin contains nonorogenic sediments deposited far from any mountain-building events.
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Adverb 1
in a manner not related to orogeny; without involvement of mountain-building processes. (Adverbial form of 'nonorogenic'.)
These strata were deposited nonorogenically, far from active orogenic belts.
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Last updated: 2025/12/27 06:28