A cactolith is a type of igneous intrusion, a "quasi-horizontal chonolith composed of anastomosing ductoliths, whose distal ends curl like a harpolith, thin out like a sphenolith, or bulge discordantly like an akmolith or ethmolith"; i.e. a laccolith which looks like a cactus.
The term was coined by Charles B. Hunt, a USGS researcher, in his paper "Geology and geography of the Henry Mountains region, Utah" (1953). He was in fact describing an actual geological feature that resembled a cactus, but said later that the deliberately-absurd term was "intended to call attention satirically to the absurd nomenclature geologists were developing by applying new names to the infinite variety of shapes intrusions can form".
References
- Hunt, C. B., et al, 1953. USGS Prof. Paper 228, p. 151 (quoted in the Glossary of Geology, Bates and Jackson, 1980)
- Jabberokey, West Australian Geologist, Number 475 — February/March 09 Archived 2012-03-21 at the Wayback Machine
- "From the President - December 2019". Houston Geological Society. December 2, 2019.
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