English

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Etymology

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From contraction +‎ -al.

Adjective

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contractional (not comparable)

  1. of or related to contraction
    • 2000 September 15, Cin-Ty Lee et al., “Osmium Isotopic Evidence for Mesozoic Removal of Lithospheric Mantle Beneath the Sierra Nevada, California”, in Science[1], volume 289, number 5486, →DOI, pages 1912–1916:
      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 )].
    • 1997 October 24, Philip England, Peter Molnar, “Active Deformation of Asia: From Kinematics to Dynamics”, in Science[2], volume 278, number 5338, →DOI, pages 647–650:
      Bars show principal horizontal stresses; black bars correspond to contractional stress and white bars to extensional stress.