Word of the Day

: September 17, 2011

bioturbation

noun bye-oh-ter-BAY-shun

What It Means

: the restructuring of sedimentary deposits (as in a lake bottom or seabed) by moving organisms (as worms and burrowing clams)

bioturbation in Context

"Native oysters are likely even more susceptible to bioturbation from shrimp, but it is unclear whether they formed reefs before they were harvested and how stable these were in the face of burrowing shrimp invasions." -- From an article in Journal of Shellfish Research, April 1, 2011

"Many studies have looked at bioturbation -- how plants and animals alter archaeological sites -- but rarely in ground saturated by monsoons." -- From an article by Samir S. Patel in Archaeology, January 2011

Did You Know?

From about the 1400s to the 1600s, the Latin borrowing "turbation" was used to refer to a disturbance or perturbation -- even though both "disturbance" and "perturbation" were already well-established words in the language. Years later, the word was revived in the International Scientific Vocabulary as the base for "congeliturbation," the churning or heaving of the soil by freezing and thawing," and "bioturbation," referring to the activity of organisms disturbing the sediment.