Stratés

Stratós is a transliteration of a Greek-derived root widely used in scientific terminology to denote layering, arrangement, or a sequence of layers. It is not a standalone discipline or object, but rather a productive root that appears in many compound terms across fields.

Etymology and usage tradeoffs: The root underlies terms that describe layered structures or processes. In geology and earth science, it appears in stratigraphy, the study of rock layers and their relative ages, and in references to stratified rocks or stratiform deposits. In volcanology, the term stratovolcano describes a volcano formed by successive lava flows and tephra layers, highlighting a layered internal structure. In atmospheric sciences and meteorology, stratiform is used to describe clouds or precipitation that forms in broad, layered sheets, and terms like stratopause and stratigraphy appear in discussions of atmospheric layers.

Beyond the natural sciences, stratós also informs social science language through stratification, the process by which a society organizes into hierarchical layers or strata, and stratified sampling, a statistical technique that divides a population into subgroups before sampling to improve representativeness.

In summary, stratós operates as a productive root rather than a discrete term, enabling a family of words that describe layered forms, sequences, and structures across disciplines. Its cross-disciplinary utility reflects a common conceptual idea of division into strata, whether in rocks, clouds, volcanoes, or societies. See also stratigraphy, stratification, stratiform, stratified sampling.