overburden

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Verb

overburden (overburdens, present participle overburdening; past and past participle overburdened)

1. To overload or overtax

Noun

overburden (plural overburdens)

1. (geology) The rock and subsoil that lies above a mineral deposit such as a coal seam.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society 2011, p. 163:

     Such rocks have been changed by baking in a terrestrial pressure-cooker. Then they have been disinterred: kilometres of overburden must have been removed.

2. (archaeology) A sterile stratum that lies above the stratum being investigated

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