stoping, vbl. n.
(ˈstəʊpɪŋ)
[f. stope v. + -ing1.]
a. The action of the verb stope.
| 1778 W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 97 When met with in stopeing, or driving as aforesaid, they commonly say, ‘It is a stope of dead ground.’ 1903 Westm. Gaz. 16 Sept. 9/1 We have good reason to believe that actual stopings..will expose a much larger amount than can now be seen. |
| attrib. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 320 Besides this, stoping ground for 10 men is opened. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 868/1 Stoping Drill (Mining.) One for excavating drifts or horizontally lying beds or steps [etc.]. |
b. Geol. The process by which intruding magma detaches blocks of the surrounding rock.
| 1903 R. A. Daly in Amer. Jrnl. Sci. CLXV. 272 (heading) The hypothesis of overhead stoping† by deep-seated magmas. [Note] † A technical mining term meaning to excavate upwards or sideways to remove ore. 1903 ― in Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. No. 209. 102 Magmatic stoping would tend to weaken the earth's crust immediately above the intruding body. 1939 Bailey & Weir Introd. Geol. xlii. 237 On the whole, stoping is probably the most important method of emplacement. 1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 69/1 Intrusions are emplaced in various ways: for example,..by stoping, a process of gradual movement involving the dislodging of the blocks of country rock and their incorporation—perhaps even assimilation—into the magma. |