fracture zone

noun

: an area of suboceanic crust characterized by fractures

Examples of fracture zone in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Earthquakes are caused by a slip on a fault, which is a fracture zone between two blocks of rock. Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2024 The gate is located in the Babadag fracture zone, an active seismic zone that originally created openings that allowed the carbon dioxide to escape the Earth. Lauren Sigfusson, Discover Magazine, 16 Feb. 2018 Jones, a research associate at Caltech’s seismological lab, said the quake struck in the Mendocino fracture zone, just offshore from Cape Mendocino in Humboldt County. Jonah Valdez, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2021 The episode, in an area known as the Romanche fracture zone, is visualized in this graphic animation from Imperial College London. Virginia Langmaid and Judson Jones, CNN, 12 Aug. 2020 Oaxaca, however, sits near what’s known as the Tehuantepec fracture zone, where choppy crust forms a ridge that pokes up into the sediments along the seafloor. National Geographic, 23 June 2020 Beneath this fracture zone, both older and newer data reveal a sizable reservoir of magma extending from about five to 11 miles under the crater. Steve Olson, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2017 Transform: Where plates slide past each other horizontally; also called fracture zones because the stress typically causes splintering into numerous faults, or fractures. Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2019 Duarte teamed up with geologist Nicolas Riel, of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany, to craft a numerical model that included both the serpentinized layer and fracture zones nearby. National Geographic, 6 May 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fracture zone.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1946, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fracture zone was in 1946

Dictionary Entries Near fracture zone

Cite this Entry

“Fracture zone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fracture%20zone. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Medical Definition

fracture zone

noun
: the area of bone, soft tissue, and blood vessels affected by or surrounding a bone fracture
This cytokine cascade recruits the cells of repair such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and osteoblasts, into the fracture zone to form the soft callus.Eric T. Becken et al., Head, Face, and Neck Trauma: Comprehensive Managment

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