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cockle

(Encyclopedia)cockle, common name applied to the heart-shaped, jumping or leaping marine bivalve mollusks, belonging to the order Eulamellibranchia. The brittle shells are of uniform size, are obliquely spherical, ...

Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park

(Encyclopedia)Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park, 327,647 acres (132,566 hectares), SW Northern Territory, central Australia. This Anangu-owned park, leased to the Australian government by the aboriginal people, cont...

Sayles, John

(Encyclopedia)Sayles, John (John Thomas Sayles), 1950–, one of America's most influential independent filmmakers as well as a screenwriter, fiction writer, playwright, and actor, b. Schenectady, N.Y., grad. Willi...

McQueen, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)McQueen, Alexander (Lee Alexander McQueen), 1969–2010, British fashion designer. He learned tailoring on Savile Row in London and worked with several theatrical costumers, which led to his designing...

Eocene epoch

(Encyclopedia)Eocene epoch ēˈəsēnˌ [key], second epoch of the Tertiary period in the Cenozoic era of geologic time, from approximately 54.9 to 38 million years ago. The Eocene in North America was marked by th...

Dogon

(Encyclopedia)Dogon dōgänˈ [key], African people who live on the bend of the Niger River in the Republic of Mali in West Africa. A patrilineal, sedentary agricultural people, they number over 360,000. They depen...

reservoir

(Encyclopedia)reservoir rĕzˈəvôr, –vwär [key], storage tank or wholly or partly artificial lake for storing water. Building an embankment or dam to preserve a supply of water for irrigation is an ancient pra...

aureole, in physics

(Encyclopedia)aureole ôrˈēōlˌ [key], in physics, luminous circle seen when the sun or other bright light is observed through a diffuse medium, i.e., smoke, thin cloud, fog, haze, or mist. It sometimes occurs a...

earth, in geology and astronomy

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. Cross section of the earth, showing its shells B. Detailed cross section of the crust and upper mantle: The lithosphere consists of the hard rock in the crust and upper mantle, lying above t...

serpentine

(Encyclopedia)serpentine sûrˈpəntēn, –tīn [key], hydrous silicate of magnesium. It occurs in crystalline form only as a pseudomorph having the form of some other mineral and is generally found in the form of...