cryocratic

English

Noun

cryocratic (uncountable)

1. The glacial phase of ecological development, characterized by a cold, dry climate in which vegetation is sparse and lacking in diversity.
   • 1975, Valentin Abramovich Krasilov, Paleoecology of Terrestrial Plants, page 229:

     Turner and West ( 1968 ) suggest that the phases of an interglacial period (cryocratic, protocratic , mesocratic , telocratic ) be considered as cenozones.

   • 2012, Marinus J.A. Werger, A.C. van Bruggen, Biogeography and Ecology of Southern Africa, page 142:

     It is not known where the Karoo complex survived the cryocratic conditions.

   • 2012, M. Ingrouille, Historical Ecology of the British Flora, page 73:

     The first phase was the cryocratic phase which existed in the ice-free parts of a glacial period.

Coordinate terms

• protocratic
• mesocratic
• oligocratic
• telocratic