forearc
nounEtymology From fore- + arc.
1
Geography, Geology, Natural sciences A region of raised rock debris which forms between the subduction zone and any associated volcano or volcanic chain.
- These offshore Sonoman mountains likely formed an orogenic (mountainous) barrier to moisture inland, resulting in a mountain-shadow onshore desert punctuated by regional annual and large basin perennial streams draining into a forearc saline sea.2012, Chinle Miller, “The Tectonic Forces of the Mesozoic”, in In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition, page 34: