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DRIFT (from "drive ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 580 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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DRIFT (from "drive ")

DRIFT (from "drive ") , a verb or noun used in various connexions with the sense of propelled See also:

motion, especially (but not necessarily) of an aimless sort, undirected. Thus it is possible to speak of a See also:

SNOW (in O. Eng. sndw; a common Indo-European word; cf. in Teutonic languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in Slavonic snieg', Lith. snegas; Gr. vi4a, Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the original

snow-drift, an accumlation driven by the See also:

wind; of a See also:

SHIP

ship drifting out of its course; of the drift of a speech, i.e. its See also:

general tendency. The word is also used in some technical senses, more immediately resulting from the See also:

ACTION

action of See also:

DRIVING (from " to drive," i.e. generally to propel, force along or in, a word common in various forms to the Teutonic languages)

driving something in. But the most important technical use of the word is in See also:

GEOLOGY (from Gr. yp7, the earth, and Abyor, science)

geology, as introduced by C. See also:

LYELL, SIR CHARLES (1797-1875)

Lyell in 1840 in See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place of " See also:

DILUVIUM (Lat. for " deluge," from diluere, to wash away)

Diluvium." The earlier geologists had been in the See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit of dividing the See also:

QUATERNARY

Quaternary deposits into an older Diluvium and a younger See also:

ALLUVIUM

Alluvium; the latter is still employed in See also:

England, but the former has dropped out of use, though it is still retained by some See also:

CONTINENTAL

continental writers. The Alluvium was distinguished from Diluvium by the fact that its mammalian fossils were representatives of still living forms, but it is a See also:

MATTER

matter of See also:

GREAT

great difficulty to See also:

SEPARATE

separate these two divisions in practice. " The See also:

TERM

term drift is now applied generally to the Quaternary deposits, which consist for the most See also:

PART

part of See also:

GRAVEL, or PEBBLE BEDS

gravel, See also:

sand, See also:

LOAM (O.E. lam; the word appears in Dut. leem and Ger. Lehm; the ultimate origin is the root lai-, meaning " to be sticky," which is seen in the cognate " lime," Lat. limus, mud, clay)

loam or brickearth and See also:

clay; it naturally refers to strata laid down at some distance from the rocks to whose destruction they are largely due; but, although applied to See also:

RIVER

river deposits, the word drift is more appropriately used in reference to the accumulations of the Glacial See also:

period. " The occurrence of stones and boulders far removed from their See also:

PARENT, SIMON NAPOLEON (1855– )

parent source See also:

early attracted the See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention of geologists, but for a See also:

long period the phenomena, now known as of glacial origin, were unexplained, and the drifts were looked upon as little more than ` extraneous rubbish,' the product of See also:

GEOLOGICAL

geological agents, quite distinct from those which helped to See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form the more solid ' rocks that underlie them." (See H. B. See also:

Woodward, The Geology of England and See also:

WALES (Cymru, Gwalia, Cambria)

Wales, 2nd ed., 1887.) The conception of an -underlying " solid " geological structure covered by a superficial See also:

MANTLE

mantle of " drift " is still retained for certain See also:

PRACTICAL

practical purposes; thus, the Geological Survey of Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain issues many of the maps in two forms, the " Solid Edition," showing the " solid geology," which embraces all igneous rocks and the stratified rocks older than See also:

PLEISTOCENE

Pleistocene, and the "Drift Edition," which shows only such older strata as are unobscured by drift. In See also:

writing and in conversation the geological expression " drift " is now usually understood to mean Glacial drift, including See also:

boulder clay and all the varieties of sand, gravel and clay deposits formed by the agency of See also:

ICE (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Eis)

ice sheets, glaciers and icebergs. But in the " Drift " maps many other types of See also:

DEPOSIT (Lat. depositurn, from deponere, to lay down, to put in the care of)

deposit are indicated, such, for instance, as the See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary See also:

MODERN

modern alluvium - of See also:

rivers, and the older river terraces (River-drift of various ages), including gravels, brickearth and loam; old raised See also:

sea beaches and blown-sand (Aeolian-drift); the " See also:

Head " of See also:

CORNWALL

Cornwall and See also:

DEVON, EARLS OF

Devon, an angular detritus consisting of stones with clay or loam; clay-with-flints, rainwash (landwash), scree and See also:

TALUS (Lat. for the " ankle-bone ")

talus; the " Warp," a marine and estuarine silt and clay of the See also:

HUMBER

Humber; and also beds of See also:

PEAT (possibly connected with Med. Lat. petia, pecia, piece, ultimately of Celtic origin; cf. O. Celt. pet, O. Ir. pit, Welsh peth, portion)

peat and diatomite.

See GLACIAL PERIOD; PLEISTOCENE; BOULDER CLAY. U. A.

End of Article: DRIFT (from "drive ")

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