paragenesis

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The order in which a formation of associated minerals is generated.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In biology, the origination, in an individual of a given species, of characters due to or in part derived from another species, as in hybridization; hybridism, with reference to the congenital peculiarities of the resulting offspring.
2. n. In mineralogy, the association of mineral species with each other with reference to the order and mode of their formation.
3. n. In biology: Catagenesis.

Wiktionary

1. n. geology An ordered chronological sequence of mineral formations

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Min.) The science which treats of minerals with special reference to their origin.
2. n. The formation of minerals in contact, so as to affect one another's development.
3. n. The order in which minerals occurring together in rocks and veins have developed.