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Varve identification and geology

A pair of distinct sediment layers one light, one dark deposited in a body of still water over the course of a single year, forming an annual cycle. The light layer typically represents coarser silt deposited during spring and summer meltwater influx, while the dark layer is finer clay that settled from suspension during winter ice cover. Varves are valuable geochronological tools for counting years in glaciolacustrine and lacustrine sediments. Field: stratigraphy. Example: Varved clays deposited in glacial Lake Hitchcock in New England preserve approximately 4,000 annual couplets, providing a high-resolution chronology of deglaciation in the Connecticut River valley.. Related terms: Lamination, Glaciolacustrine, Geochronology, Lake sediment.

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Sources, scope & corrections

These authoritative resources support category-level nomenclature, terminology, identification methods, and safety. When a specimen-specific safety warning appears, the public-health source listed here directly supports that precaution. They are not line-by-line citations for every other property on this entry, and natural specimens vary.

Editorial owner
GeoMiner
Last updated
2026-03-30T15:19:42.127987+00:00
Review status
Published; not independently peer-reviewed
  • USGS Thesaurus — U.S. Geological Survey. Controlled earth-science terminology used to describe USGS information resources.
  • Glossary of Geologic Terms — U.S. National Park Service. Geologic definitions prepared by the NPS Geologic Resources Inventory.

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Common questions

What does Varve mean in geology?
A pair of distinct sediment layers one light, one dark deposited in a body of still water over the course of a single year, forming an annual cycle. The light layer typically represents coarser silt deposited during spring and summer meltwater influx, while the dark layer is finer clay that settled from suspension during winter ice cover. Varves are valuable geochronological tools for counting years in glaciolacustrine and lacustrine sediments.
What is an example of Varve?
Varved clays deposited in glacial Lake Hitchcock in New England preserve approximately 4,000 annual couplets, providing a high-resolution chronology of deglaciation in the Connecticut River valley.
Which earth-science field uses the term Varve?
Varve is used in stratigraphy.
Which terms are related to Varve?
Related terms in this reference are Lamination, Glaciolacustrine, Geochronology, Lake sediment.

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