From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe surfacethe surfaceSEEMthe qualities, emotions etc of someone or something that are easy to notice, but which are not the only or not the real qualities, emotions etcon the surface On the surface, it seems a simple story. Half an hour later, Enid had calmed down, at least on the surface.beneath the surface I sensed a lot of tension and jealousy beneath the surface. Prejudice is never far beneath the surface (=often appears) in the region.rise/be brought/come to the surface Violence has risen to the surface in the inner city. → surface
Examples from the Corpus
rise/be brought/come to the surface• Three men, including one called Andrew Cunningham, were brought to the surface to erect the fence.• Most of this was brought to the surface last century, when mining of other metals was also important. 