Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) subsidence, lowering of a portion of the earth's crust. The subsidence of land areas over time has resulted in submergence by shallow seas (see oceans). Land subsidence can occur naturally or through ...

(Encyclopedia) Verdun vĕrdŭnˈ, Fr. vĕrdöNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 23,427), Meuse dept., NE France, in Lorraine, on the Meuse River. A strategic transportation center, Verdun has varied industries and is situat...

(Encyclopedia) Beyoncé, 1981- , American popular singer, songwriter, and actress, b. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles, Houston, Tx. Beyoncé first gained fame as the lead si...

(Encyclopedia) Roche limit, the closest distance that a celestial body held together only by its own gravity can come to a planet without being pulled apart by the planet's tidal (gravitational) force. This distance...

(Encyclopedia) Brunhild brĭnˈhĭld [key], mighty female warrior of Germanic mythology and literature. In the Nibelungenlied, a medieval German epic poem (see under Nibelungen), she is the warlike queen of Iceland,...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 fructose lĕvˈyəlōsˌ [key], or fruit sugar, simple sugar found in honey and in the fruit and other parts of plants. It is much sweeter than sucrose (cane sugar). It is best obtained by hydr...

(Encyclopedia) jewelry, personal adornments worn for ornament or utility, to show rank or wealth, or to follow superstitious custom or fashion. The most universal forms of jewelry are the necklace, bracelet, ring, p...

(Encyclopedia) Westminster Abbey, originally the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery (closed in 1539) in London. One of England's most important Gothic structures, it is also a national shrine. The first church ...

(Encyclopedia) lemur lēˈmər [key], name for prosimians, or lower primates, of two related families, found only on Madagascar and adjacent islands. Lemurs have monkeylike bodies and limbs, and most have bushy tail...

(Encyclopedia) near-death experience, phenomenon reported by some people who have been clinically dead, then returned to life. Descriptions of the experience differ slightly in detail from person to person, but usua...