A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.
Biology
A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas.
Geology and geomorphology
In
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...
, a relict is a structure or mineral from a parent rock that did not undergo metamorphosis when the surrounding rock did, or a rock that survived a destructive geologic process.
In
geomorphology
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or ...
, a relict landform is a
landform
A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...
formed by either erosive or constructive surficial processes that are no longer active as they were in the past.
A
glacial relict
A glacial relict is a population of a cold-adapted species that has been left behind as the range of the species changed after an ice age ended. Glacial relicts are usually found in enclaves "under relatively benign conditions".
Examples:
*The bi ...
is a cold-adapted organism that is a remnant of a larger distribution that existed in the
ice ages
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
.
Human populations
As revealed by
DNA test
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
ing, a relict population is an ancient people in an area, who have been largely supplanted by a later group of migrants and their descendants.
In various places around the world, minority
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
s represent lineages of ancient
human migration
Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another (ex ...
s in places now occupied by more populous ethnic groups, whose ancestors arrived later. For example, the first human groups to inhabit the Caribbean islands were
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
tribes from South and Central America. Genetic testing of natives of Cuba show that, in late pre-Columbian times, the island was home to agriculturalists of
Taino ethnicity. In addition, a relict population of the original hunter-gatherers remained in western Cuba as the
Ciboney people.
Other uses
* In ecology, an
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...
which originally ranged over a large expanse, but is now narrowly confined, may be termed a relict.
* In
agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...
, a relict crop is a crop which was previously grown extensively, but is now only used in one limited region, or a small number of isolated regions.
* In
real estate law
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
, reliction is the gradual recession of water from its usual high-water mark so that the newly uncovered land becomes the property of the adjoining
riparian
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...
property owner.
[Lear, P.W. 1991, ''Accretion, reliction, erosion, and avulsion: a survey of riparian and littoral title problems.'' Journal of Energy, Natural Resources & Environmental Law. vol. 11, pp. 265-285.]
* "Relict" was an ancient term still used in colonial (British) America, and in England of that era, now archaic, for a
widow
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died.
Terminology
The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...
; it has come to be a generic or collective term for widows and widowers.
* In
historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
, a relict is a word that is a survivor of a form or forms that are otherwise archaic.
See also
*
*
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
*
Hysteresis
Hysteresis is the dependence of the state of a system on its history. For example, a magnet may have more than one possible magnetic moment in a given magnetic field, depending on how the field changed in the past. Plots of a single component of ...
*
Living fossil
A living fossil is an extant taxon that cosmetically resembles related species known only from the fossil record. To be considered a living fossil, the fossil species must be old relative to the time of origin of the extant clade. Living foss ...
*
Refugium (population biology)
Refugium, plural refugia, the Latin for "refuge" or "hideaway", may refer to:
* Refugium (fishkeeping), an appendage to a marine, brackish, or freshwater fish tank that shares the same water supply
* Refugium (population biology), a location of an ...
*
Relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
*
Palaeochannel
A palaeochannel, also spelt paleochannel and also known as palaeovalley or palaeoriver, is a geological term describing a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment. The sediments that th ...
References
{{reflist, 2
Biogeography
Geology terminology
Historical linguistics
Biology terminology