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# The smallest distinctive division of a stratified series, marked by a more or less well-defined surface or plane from its neighbors above and below; a layer or stratum.  <i>Fay </i>
# A deposit, as of ore, parallel to the stratification.  <i>Standard, 2 </i>
# A bed (or beds) is the smallest formal lithostratigraphic unit of sedimentary rocks. The designation of a bed or a unit of beds as a formally named lithostratigraphic unit generally should be limited to certain distinctive beds whose recognition is particularly useful. Coalbeds, oil sands, and other beds of economic importance commonly are named, but such units and their names usually are not a part of formal stratigraphic nomenclature (NACSN, 1983, Art. 26).
# That portion of an outcrop or face of a quarry that occurs between two bedding planes.  <i>Fay </i>
# The level surface of rock upon which a curb or crib is laid.  <i>Fay </i>
# All the coal, partings, and seams that lie between a distinct roof and floor.  <i>Hess </i>
# Perhaps the most common term in geology, meaning layer or stratum. Quarrymen usually mean by beds not the stone beds in the geologist's sense but the partings between them.  <i>Arkell </i>
# A stockpile, as of ore, concentrates, and fluxes, built up of successive layers so that transverse cutting yields a uniform mixture for furnace feed until the material is all consumed.
# In mineral processing, a heavy layer of selected oversized mineral or metal shot maintained on screen of jig.  <i>Pryor, 3 </i>
# That part of conveyor upon which the load or carrying medium rests or slides while being conveyed.
# In bulk material conveyors, the mass of material being conveyed.
# A base for machinery.  <i>Nichols, 1 </i>

Source: Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms