raveling
n.— «In some places, air pockets between the soil, rocks and other debris have created a crumbling effect, a process called “dry raveling” that could have played a role in the weekend death of a teenage hiker.» —“Unstable soil needs time for new growth to take root” by Jennifer Bowles Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California) Jan. 14, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...