saltation

n.

1. The act of leaping, jumping, or dancing.
2. Discontinuous movement, transition, or development; advancement by leaps.
3. Genetics. A single mutation that drastically alters the phenotype.

[Latin saltātiō, saltātiōn, from saltātus, past participle of saltāre, to leap. See salient.]

The bouncing of material from and along a river bed or a land surface. The impact of a falling sand grain may splash other grains upwards so that a chain of saltating particles may be set up. Saltation upwards is the result of lift forces; the downward movement occurs when lift is no longer effective and the particle is subject to drag and gravity.

1. the action of leaping, as in louping ill or the dancing of porcine myotonia congenita.
2. conduction along myelinated nerves.
3. in genetics, an abrupt variation in species; a mutation.

1) the action or process of leaping or jumping; dance
2) the origin of a new species or a higher taxon in essentially a single evolutionary step that in some esp. former theories is held to be due to a major mutation or to unknown causes; mutation

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