namakier

English

Etymology

Blend of Persian نمک (namak, “salt”) +‎ glacier. First use appears c. 1970. See cite below.

Noun

namakier (plural namakiers)

1. Synonym of salt glacier
   • 1970, University of Texas, Bureau of Economic Geology (contributor), Report of Investigations - Issues 142-146, page 18:

     Namakiers represent large, recumbent sheath folds underlain and flanked by rigid bedrock and overlain by air.

   • 1987, Munn & Company (contributor), Scientific American - Volume 257, page 79:

     Hence the namakier consists of a stack of overlapping tongues.

   • 1998, Andrew C. Scott, Derek John Blundell (editors), Lyell - The Past is the Key to the Present, page 320:

     Most salt extrusions rising on high ground are asymmetric and feed only one namakier.

   • 2006, John K. Warren, Evaporites: Sediments, Resources and Hydrocarbons, page 471:

     Small ephemeral features, including shallow caves, are typical of the salt glacier surface, but in an active namakier the salt is flowing too fast to preserve them.

   • 2022, Marcia Bjornerud, Geopedia - A Brief Compendium of Geologic Curiosities, page 95:

     From Farsi for "mountain of salt," a namakier is perhaps more accurately described as a glacier of salt that can flow over the land surface as fast as inches per year, rivaling its icy counterparts for speed.