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contact vein

A contact deposit in vein form. See also:contact deposit

contact zone

See:aureole

container winding

This winding system makes use of a coal receptacle on small rollers that
fits closely in the cage. During the previous wind, it is filled near the
shaft, and similarly it is emptied very quickly at the surface and
returned to the pit bottom on the next wind. Sinclair, 3

contaminant

a. See:impurity
b. A harmful, irritating, or nuisance airborne material.

contamination

Process whereby the chemical composition of a magma is altered as a result
of the assimilation of inclusions or country rock.
See also:hybridization; dilution. AGI

contango

The situation when the price of a metal for forward or future delivery is
greater than the cash or spot price of the metal. Contangos occur when the
metal is in plentiful supply. The size of the contango does not normally
exceed the cost of financing, insuring, and storing the metal over the
future delivery period. Wolff

contemporaneous

Formed or existing at the same time. Said of lava flows interbedded in a
single time-stratigraphic unit, and generally of any feature or facies
that develops during the formation of the enclosing rocks. AGI

contemporaneous deformation

Deformation that takes place in sediments during or immediately following
their deposition. Includes many varieties of soft-sediment deformation,
such as small-scale slumps, crumpling and brecciation, but in some areas
features of large dimensions. AGI

contiguous

Adjoining, touching, or connected throughout, as in a group of mining
claims.

contiguous claims

Mining claims that have a side or end line in common. Lewis

contiguous limonite

Limonite in the gangue around and adjoining a cavity or a group of
cavities formerly occupied by iron-bearing sulfide.

continental alluvium

Alluvium produced by the erosion of a highland area and deposited by a
network of rivers to form an extensive plain. AGI

continental basin

A closed structural depression of regional extent in the interior of a
continent.

continental deposit

A sedimentary deposit laid down on land or in bodies of water not directly
connected with the ocean, as opposed to a marine deposit; a glacial,
fluvial, lacustrine, or eolian deposit formed in a nonmarine environment.
See also:terrestrial deposit

continental gland-type capping

A wire-rope capping method in which a rope-clamping device is used instead
of a capping. The end of the rope is turned back upon itself over grooved
block with a suitable radius, and the short end of the rope is clamped on
to the main rope above the block. Sinclair, 5

continental margin

a. The zone separating the emergent continents from the deep sea bottom.
It generally consists of the continental shelf, the continental slope, and
the continental rise. AGI
b. The submerged prolongation of the land mass of the coastal state,
consisting of the seabed and subsoil of the shelf, the slope, and the
rise.

continental nucleus

See:shield

continental plate

Lithosphere underlying a continent that is part of a tectonic plate.
AGI

continental platform

The platformlike mass of a continent that stands above the surrounding
oceanic basins. Syn. for continental shelf. AGI

continental rise

The submarine surface beyond the base of the continental slope, generally
having a gradient of less than 1:1,000, occurring at depths from 4,500 to
17,000 ft (1.37 to 5.18 km), and leading down to abyssal plains.
AGI

continental sediment

See:continental deposit